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This is the week that was…the London Marathon!
Before we get on to what was of course the biggest and most inspirational event of the weekend (and quite some time), let's have a look at our other goings on... Of course we had our usual club runs all week with group night on Tuesday (followed by a trip to the Black Lion for the 5-10K crowd), Fartlek Wednesday, Captain Dan's track session on Thursday and Karen leading the social run on Friday. We even had some midweek racing where Sally took on the Keswick AC wet and hilly 6.9K on Wednesday. On parkrun day we had members at Inverness (where Jen and James bumped into former LFRs Dougie and Avril who send their very best wishes to the club!), Linford Wood, Shrewsbury, Wimpole Estate, Aylesbury, Cirencester and Dunstable Downs. We had 36 LFRs at home in Rushmere with Captain Dan coming in 6th; Max was 2nd in her age category; and Jane, Chrissy and Carrie all ran new PBs! Rushmere also saw the Hen and Stag parkrun for our very own LFR Bride and Groom, Team Sparky - Jen and Mark. If you didn't already know, Jen and Mark are getting married this weekend! We hope you have the most amazing day! The weekend also saw Kelly and Laura return to the Blenheim Palace 7K both shaving off 3 and half minutes from their times last year! Superb! Jo was running the beautiful Shakespeare Half Marathon and running a half PB! The legend we call JK was running a double marathon weekend - Saturday he was at the Bath Beat marathon. 26.7 very hilly and windy trail miles followed by another 27 trail miles on Sunday at Pewsey Dowsaround marathon in Wiltshire. He did these same two marathons this time last year too. All in training for the big event in July....you'll have to wait until the July newsletters to hear about that big challenge! Also on Sunday there was this other little event going on in London. What. A. Day. The London Marathon always causes great excitement and inspires us all to keep running. Team LFR were out in force with a massive 18 of us taking part! A HUGE well done and congratulations to Martin, Marianne, Amos, Nicki, Christine, Chris, Jason, Katy, Anne, Andrew, Barbara, Alison, Anna, Lydia, Jeremy. Adam, David, and Paul. Well done! We’ve had stories of stomach cramps, helping celebrities, some saying they’ll never run again, some saying they’ll never walk again, good for age times, seasoned marathoners, first timers, a 10 time London marathoner (that’s you Paul!), a 102nd and final marathon (happy retirement, Amos), and of course….our record breaking egg Katy! For those who don’t know, Katy was attempting a Guinness World Record to run the fastest marathon dressed as an egg…and she did it! She now joins our other World Record holder, Chris, who still holds his record! I’ll let you ask him what that was for….! We also had the LFR marshals out in force. Thank you to all of you for spending the day cheering not only our own runners, but every single person that went by. A wonderful experience for everyone and amazing to see so many runners and the charities they were running for. And finally a huge thank you to Max as ever for organising the marshals and the coach down to London! Phew! That's all for now. Have a great week, LFR!
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This is the week that was…the hottest Easter on record!
Marathon fever had not left us on Monday with Peter and Pam both at the real Boston Marathon in the USA. Peter finished with a fantastic time of 3.37 getting himself a Good for Age time. And Pam was completing her final marathon of the six marathon majors! She has completed all the marathon majors being: Boston, Tokyo, Chicago, New York, Berlin and London. What an achievement...well done Pam! We had a visitor at our Tuesday club run. Carol from Brain Tumour Research - our chosen charity for 2018/19 - came along to say a big thank you for the £6,308.40 donation we made to them and tell us all about the charity. Following this we took on the Out and Back route to The Hills. Excellent work from everyone. Vicky was on the Fartlek Fun Whistle on Wednesday; James took out the Improvers for Pyramids in the Park on Thursday; and Michelle was in charge of the Friday morning run seeing the largest turnout we've ever seen on a Friday (see main picture) - anyone would think it was a Bank Holiday! On parkrun day we had runners at Swindon, Milton Keynes, Minehead, Pennington Flash (where Debbie was running her 50th parkrun!), Houghton Hall (where Tom came in 1st bagging a 5K PB!), Wimpole Estate, Kingsbury Water, Workington (Len's in the right country now!), Penrith, Keswick, Barry Island, Erdigg, Littleport, Wendover Woods, Dunstable Downs, and of course, Rushmere. At home in Rushmere Ollie, Jen, Karen and mini Stamp, George, all ran PBs! And Michelle was running her 50th parkrun! We had runners making friends with animals in the sunshine this week with Anna talking to a French cow in a field and David chatting to the seals on a Norfolk beach. There were no official events this weekend, but this did not stop LFR from getting out and about on their training runs, rides, walks and swims all over the Easter weekend from the Smith's 10 Mile, Janice cycling her furthest ever distance, Captain Dan falling over on his driveway, runs in Ashridge, Woburn and Nic running a half marathon PB training run. Excellent! The Easter weekend was finished off this morning with a beautifully sunny run with Karen and JK around Ashridge. A fantastic turnout on a glorious day. That's all for now. Have a great week, LFR!
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This is the week that was…full of PBs!
It was group night on Tuesday where we tried something a little different. The run leaders were pushing the groups to go just that little bit faster on their runs: the 11s were running 10.30s, the 10.30s were running 10s, the 10s, 9.30s and so on. Everyone enjoyed it and lots of runners ran further and faster than they’d done before. Excellent! Janice was the Mistress of Joy and Pain for Fartlek Wednesday. Coach Matt took out the largest group of Improvers we’ve ever seen for Catterpillars on Thursday. And Katharine took out the LFR boys for a wonderful Friday morning social in the sun. A big thank you to our wonderful run leaders as usual. We couldn’t put on any of these runs without them. If you ever fancy being a run leader for any of our runs, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, do let Captain Dan or VC James know. On parkrun day we had LFRs at Brighton & Hove, Boston, Linford Wood (where Claire ran a PB!), Houghton Hall, Aylesbury, Tring, Daventry, Dolgellau (where Steph and Mariam were both second in their age groups!), Richmond Olympic (Len, we miss you), Great Denham, Watermeadows, Jersey Farm, Marston Vale and of course….Rushmere. At home in Rushmere, Jamie made it into the top 10 and Janet, fresh from her age category win at the Leighton 10K two weeks before, bagged a PB! Saturday also saw the return of the LFR Ploggers! You go for a jog and as you go, pick up litter and help the community by doing so. A massive thank you to everyone who joined us for the morning and gave up your time. Everyone found the experience rewarding and enjoyed a well deserved pint in the pub. The plog was covered by the Daily Mail as part of the Great British Spring Clean. Keep an eye out! The weekend continued and it was a weekend full of training runs, rides and swims with some excellent efforts put in. And of course it was a weekend full of events: Jo was at the Draycote Water 10 Mile. Sparky was continuing his comeback with a great run at the Brighton 10K. Team LFR had some fantastic performances at the Flitwick 10K with Chris winning her age category AGAIN and some superb PBs from Laura, Tom, Andrew, Paul, Seri, Captain Dan, Coach Matt, Gavin and Fiona! All this training is paying off. Well done, all of you! At Boston (no not that one), Clare was smashing out a half marathon and we also had some marathoners… Kevin completed his first ever marathon coming in with a great time for a first of 3.48. Katy got a cracking time in preparation for her world record attempt at VLM to be the fastest egg to run a marathon! Doyley was smashing out ANOTHER marathon. Mark bagged a superb PB of 3.15 as did Paul who ran a 3.17 getting himself a Good for Age time in the process! And finally Ian was running Boston as a training run of all things following an 75 mile cycle to get there the day before. Brilliant. We also had a smattering of LFRs at the Brighton Marathon. Niki was running her first ever marathon. Niki has come so far…she was a couch to 5K graduate with LFR not that long ago! Well done, Niki! Carole was running her first marathon as a member of LFR. Caroline ran a 31 minute PB! Annis was running marathon number 11. Stephanie ran a 25 minute PB. Duncan ran a 15 minute PB. And Elle ran a PB and also got her Good for Age time! Some excellent performances all round. Every single one of these marathoners has put in hours and hours of training to get to where they are. It takes a lot of hard work to complete a marathon. Even more to get such huge PBs and the fantastic times these guys have achieved. Well done team! There are still more marathon stories to come in the coming weeks with the Spring marathon season in full flow - and even today with Pam and Peter running the real Boston. Look out for their stories in next week’s newsletter! That’s all for now. Have a great week, LFR!
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This is the week that was…Ultras, Loops and Lakes!
The week began with a 5cake night and two new course records for the men and women. Tom came in at a brilliant 18.30 for the 5K and Elle ran a superb 21.13. We had plenty of PBs on the night and our Couch to 5K Graduates joining the club run for the first time! Well done guys. Vicky took out the Herberts for Fartlek Wednesday. The C25K graduates were back in action on Thursday trying out Andy’s Hills at Improvers. And Karen led a lovely social run on Friday. On parkrun day we had LFRs at Bedfont Lakes, Linford Wood (where David bagged a new PB), Houghton Hall, Aylesbury (where Team Turner both ran PBs!), Kingsbury Water, Fell Foot, Rushmere, Marston Vale and Richmond Olympic (when are you coming home, Len?). Sandra, Lindsey, Doyley and Carrie were being tourists for the day at Fell Foot parkrun in the Lake District. A beautiful course and a gorgeous setting. Carrie and Doyley were the multisport parkrunners cycling 11 miles to get there! At home in Rushmere, we had PBs from Kevin, Gavin, David and Mini Stamp George! Excellent running. The weekend came and we had a few members out running at events: Julie and Sally was running the Sandy 10 mile – Julie bagging a 10 mile PB. David was at the Grand Union Half Marathon and following his parkrun PB from the Saturday ran an excellent half PB of 1.38. Emma was totting up her marathon total yet again with a great run at the Manchester Marathon. JK aka the Legend was running the Shropshire 80K Ultra. A self navigated brutal trail run. But with fantastic views he says! All worth it in the end. He does this a lot…you see why we call him the Legend? And also running an ultra at the South Downs Way 50 and getting her first medal of the year was Claire! 50 miles up and down the South Downs. Superb! Sunday was the day of the LFR Training Loops! A massive 30 runners turned up to run the loops – not all LFR – some completing a few loops, others running 20 miles. Superb efforts from every single runner. Thank you to everyone who took part and big thank you to Pam, Vicky and Matt for helping out on the day and Captain Dan for his organisation. Another successful training run! And finally the Lakes…what’s this? A bunch of LFR took to the Lake District this weekend for some training. They fit in running, cycling, fudge, parkrunning, gingerbread, hiking, more cycling, swimming, and lots and lots of laughs. Some were doing a recce of the Lakeland 50 route (wait until July to hear all about this one). Some were getting the miles in the legs in their cycling training, cycling up the steepest hills imaginable and showing off their LFR Cycling Jerseys at the same time. Others took to Rydal Water for a glorious, but freezing open water swim. And it was all finished off with a hike up a mountain (bagging eight Wainwrights on the way round). Well done guys. Excellent training weekend! And that’s it for this week! Have a great week, LFR!
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This is the week that was….the Leighton 10K!
Before heading to our main event, let’s have a quick recap of the week gone by… Tuesday saw us run to the pub and back again! The legend we call JK had his first go as the Master of Pain on the Fartlek whistle – everyone finished smiling. More pain next time, JK. Jen took charge of the Improvers on Thursday making them do sprints, bands, star jumps and lunges up the steepest of hills. And Vicky led a Friday morning social run in the glorious weather – the lake looks beautiful in the sunshine!On parkrun day we had members at Milton Keynes, Rosliston, Houghton Hall, Kingsbury Water, Exmouth, Dunstable Downs, Millennium Country parkrun Forest of Marston Vale (yes it has a really long name), Richmond Olympic (Len's in Canada again) and of course, Rushmere. At Milton Keynes David was running his parkrun anniversary. In one year his time there has progressed from 31:31 to 21:37. What an incredible achievement! At Rushmere we had a massive 44 LFRs! Steven, Kevin and Andrew took their places in the top 10 with Mr Sugars and Mr Hare bagging themselves PBs; Mrs Sugars came in third lady; mini LFR Arriana ran herself a course PB (now beating her mum’s time!); David, Elle, Caroline, Ami, Jen, Annabelle also ran PBs! Some of the 44 were Debbie’s Couch to 5K runners who having completed the course tackled one of the toughest parkruns. Excellent running all of you and I think it was a couple of you who bagged PBs! And they all finished with a post run beer. Superb! New members…remember to amend your parkrun profile to show you’re a member of Leighton Fun Runners! You can also join our private Strava group here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/36030 Whilst the majority of the club were busy at some 10K event over the weekend, other members were also busy getting in the training runs, rides, swims and some were taking part in other events: Elle and Mr Elle were at the Bedford Running Grand Prix Half Marathon. Both absolutely destroyed their PBs with Elle taking 5 minutes from hers! Also at Bedford, but running the 20 miles was Duncan smashing out a great run. The Legend was back marathon running this week and doing what he does best at a navigational trail marathon at Thaxted. Great work, JK! Now…this 10K event? Of course it was LFR’s brand new Leighton 10K! If you were not already aware, we were forced to move from our usual route this year due to a housing development and traffic restrictions on the roads we normally use. And we moved to Long Marston Cricket Club! 347 runners finished our new route and the feedback we’ve had so far is that everyone loved it! There has been a massive amount of praise all over social media for our wonderful marshals. Thank you every single volunteer for the event: the cake bakers, the setting up team, the design man, the man with the van, the take down team, the marshals, the car parking people, the water station team, the pleasure zone, registration, baggage, tshirts, cake givers, tea makers, bacon sandwich makers, photographers, tail walker, lead bike, finish team, and of course our wonderful Race Director and the Captain. We could not have put on this event without every single one of you. Thank you. (Also – whoever made the jam tarts, these were a personal favourite). Thank you to our sponsors Quarters Estate Agents and The Rocci Tree. We'd also like to thank our hosts, Long Marston Cricket Club, Miles Scaffolding for the loan of their field, The Queens Head Pub, Morrisons, Ukie Toones and The Guitar Ninja for the music. Thank you also to every single runner who entered and ran. The race can only work when we have runners who run and enjoy the race so a big well done for coming out. It was a tough ask for runners and volunteers on Mother’s Day AND with the clocks going forward. The coffee was in high demand. To the results! It was a purple and gold 1,2,3 in the Men’s Race with Rob Elmore, Peter Mackrell and Chris George coming in from Leighton Buzzard Athletic Club. They also took the top spot in the Ladies Race with Johanna Sharples and with Sam Dear coming in just before her they took home the team prize! Well done LBAC! (Someone photo bombed their photo...) Second in the Ladies Race was Sarah King from Redway Runners and third was Nicola Mellor. Our age category winners were as follows:MV40 – Piers Vallance from Redway RunnersMV50 – Christopher Noble from Brackley and District RCMV60 – Terry McHugh from Ampthill & Flitwick FlyersMV70 – Paul Thomas was Leighton Fun RunnersFV35 – Abi Gooch from Redway RunnersFV45 – Debbie Channer from Vale of Aylesbury ACFV55 – Sheila Turner from Tring Running ClubFV65 – Janet Langdon from Leighton Fun Runners Some superb results and even some prizes for LFR!The first LFR home was of course our young star Tom Ellerton coming in 6th overall and bagging a 10K PB of 38:01. There is no stopping this guy! A 37 minute 10K is coming…. The first LFR lady home was….yes you guessed it….Katy GL! Even dressed as a fried egg she smashes out some superb times. Katy is training for VLM this year and is hoping to get a Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon dressed as an egg. You’ve got this, KGL! We had a total of 26 LFRs take part in the end. It was fantastic to see each red and black come across the finish line. Some superb results from you all. A massive shout out to LFR member Claire Bartlett. For the last few weeks she has been working with Coach Matt and his team on a 5K to 10K course and completed her first ever 10K event with us on Sunday! Superb effort Claire! Full results of the Leighton 10K can be found on the Races Online website here: https://www.racesonline.uk/results/2019-results/lfr10k-2019/ Photos will be made available online soon. We will email all race participants with details and let members of the club know when these are online. So that’s it for another year. Look out for the next one! And that’s it for this week! Have a great week, LFR and friends!
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This is the week…we found out the colour of the Oakley hoodie!
Before we turn to the long awaited result of the Oakley hoodie colour bingo, let’s have a look at our week… Another glorious week of club runs, with no wind. We had pace groups on Tuesday, Paul and his ladies not Fartlekking on Wednesday, Captain Dan putting the Improvers to the test on Thursday and Katharine and Jenny leading the social run on Friday. We’ve not seen any Strava artwork for a while – step it up run leaders! The weekend came as did parkrun day where we had LFRs at Arrow Valley, Linford Wood, Barrow, Houghton Hall, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Exmouth, Watermeadows, Dunstable Downs, Marston Vale, and of course Rushmere. At Rushmere we had some fantastic results and PBs galore! Andrew took his spot in 2nd place – equalling his PB. Jamie came in 4th, Kevin 7th, Ian 10th and Paul close behind in 11th. Ian and Paul also bagged themselves new PBs, as did Gavin and Richard. Flying the flag for the LFR ladies, Emily was 2nd lady and guess what…she also ran a PB!The half marathon runners were out and about on Sunday. LFR Dan was running a half marathon at Coventry. Following his Rushmere PB, Gavin then landed a half marathon PB at the London Landmarks Half Marathon! Also running at the LLHM was Adam and also Sarah (with Keith in full support/photographer mode). There were lots of training runs and rides as well over the weekend. Shout out to Janice who cycled her first ever century on the bike –that’s 100 miles! To put that into perspective, it’s the equivalent of running a marathon. Superb. Andrew and Mark were flying the LFR flag at the final Gade Valley Training Run of 2019 – 20 Miles. Both had storming runs and right on track with their marathon training. Keep up the good work fellas! AND finally. The other 20 Miler of the weekend, the Bedford Harriers Oakley 20 event. An LFR favourite we had a gaggle of the team head to Bedford for a Sunny Sunday Run (a marked difference from last year’s event which was called off due to the snow!). We had some fantastic results, excellent runs from everyone, all stepping it up in their marathon training. We also had some first time 20 milers and first time Oakley 20 runners. Everyone loved it! Superb running efforts from everyone. A big thank you also to the supporters at Oakley, JK and Karen were at the side of the road and Will was on hand to take plenty of photos as usual. And the colour of the hoodie? This might be the best one yet….blue..... Well done everyone on another great week of running. See you next week!
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This is the week that was…Storm Gareth!
Storm Gareth came and went this week. We ran in the wind doing loops at Chartmoor Road; Janice beasted the team at Fartlek; James took the Improvers for some park Sprintervals; and Katharine and Jenny led a windy, but wonderful Friday morning run. parkrun day saw LFRs at Westmill (where Chris and Dave completed their parkrun compass challenge), Linford Wood, Houghton Hall (where Tom came 2nd and bagged an incredible PB of 18.44), Aylesbury, Kingsbury Water, Longrun Meadow, Buckingham, Tring, Rushmere and Celia still parkrun touring at Gisborne parkrun in New Zealand running a fabulous time of 27.59 – the southern hemisphere suits you, Celia!Also running a parkrun on his 75th birthday was LFR Len at Sheffield parkrun. Unfortunately the parkrun had to be cancelled. But Len and 150 other runners ran it anyway! Happy Birthday, Len! The weekend was another busy one for Team LFR. The weather did not stop us. Here we go…. Team Turner, Stephanie and Annis, were running six laps around Thames Valley Nature Park for the 20 miles Doh’Nut Run. There were even doughnuts at the end (real ones, not those medals!); Peter was at the Fleet Half; and Emily bagged a 10K PB at the Richmond Riverside 10K. Sally, Jen and Andrew took a road trip to the Scottish Borders to take part in the Mighty Deerstalker. A night time headtorch run weaving up and down two mountains in the wind, wading through rivers, tunnels, and mud galore! Andrew managed a super fast time and even came 4th in his age category! The team took on the Ashridge Boundary Run on Saturday– a 16.5 mile hilly trail run. Hugely windy. Mud everywhere. Superb efforts from everyone! A big thank you and well done also to the LFR supporters who stood out in the wind cheering the team on. And finally it was the MK Festival of Running on Sunday with LFRs taking part in all distances: 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and 20 Miles! Well done everyone! Of course not all LFRs were taking part in events and some still made it out in the wind getting the miles in for their training runs. Well done all. Another great week. Happy running, LFR!
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This is the week that…..started and ended with food!
PANCAKES! Yes it was the annual pancake run on Tuesday where we had our usual groups running and all passing by Captain Dan’s house for pancakes! No naked chef this year. Perhaps he’ll make a return next year… Kevin took on the Fartlek group on Wednesday to burn off the pancake calories from the day before. Andrew led another big crowd of Improvers on Thursday and Peter and the boys, plus Rachel, had a glorious morning run in the woods on Friday. The weekend was again full of parkruns, events and racing, so hold on tight…. parkrun day saw LFRs at Heaton, Milton Keynes, Arrow Valley, Cannon Hill, Killerton, Winchester, Eastville (the second of the compass tour from Debbie, Carrie and Jon), Houghton Hall, Buckingham, Ellenbrook Fields, Great Denham, Wendover Woods, Dunstable Downs and Celia continuing her parkrun tour at the Tauranga parkrun in New Zealand! At home in Rushmere, LFR Julie was the first lady home and we had some fantastic PBs from Paul and Amanda. Great running! The LFR multisporters were sporting again with Jen, Ali, Paul and Verity at the Berkhamsted Spring Classic ride in Aldbury – a lovely, but windy cycle ride around the Chilterns followed (of course) by cake! And a new LFR sport….Mark was wearing the LFR colours on the ski slopes. Interesting ski equipment, Mark. Clare and Kirsty ran the Enigma 5K Dragon Race on Saturday. Kirsty followed this on Sunday with a 5K PB out on her solo run! Nolan, Laura and Kelly were at London’s Big Half with Laura and Kelly running their first ever half marathon! (I don’t know how many Nolan has run…tell us, Nolan!) Kelly and Laura joined the club last year after completing the Winter Couch to 5K and just a year later they have completed their first half marathon! Great work, ladies!Also running her first ever half marathon this weekend was Katie at the Harpenden Half who was also running her first official race in an LFR vest! Gale force winds and mud throughout, but it’s done! Well done, Katie! Mud seemed to be the theme for the weekend… Sally ran through lots of mud at the Hunny Bell Cross Country. Rob took on the muddy hills at the Wendover Woods Half Marathon. And in preparation for the breakfast run, Stephanie finally got herself muddy on a run along the canal (if you haven’t already heard, Stephanie doesn’t care for mud).The big event of the weekend was of course our first fundraising event of the year…LFR’s annual Breakfast Run! We had six groups running from three stations along the canal or cross country. Cold and windy in places, warm and muddy in others! All went really well and everyone returned to the clubhouse for their scrummy breakfast. Everyone had a brilliant time and for the first time most groups actually met on the canal and some even joined up to run back together. Wonderful! A huge thank you to the clubhouse breakfast team: Max, Jason, Jane, Chris, Jess and Fiona and huge thanks to the run leaders Gavin, Dave, Annis, Michelle, James and Captain Dan. Also a massive thank you to our train man, Graham, for arranging the train tickets with LNW. And fundraising? We raised about £300 in donations which will be added to the pot to for our charity donation next year. Thank you everyone who ran, donated, ate and had fun! That’s all for this week. Happy running, LFR!
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This is the week that was….weather.
What a week of weather. It started off with the hottest February days on record and quickly turned to rain and a storm named Freya by the weekend. Through all this weather, of course LFR were out sweating in the heat and battling through the rain to get their runs in. It's just what we do. The usual club runs took place in the week which included a visit from a running mascot we'll call Jeremy - we heard news that Jeremy was spotted supporting the LBAC juniors during training on Thursday evening, only to leap off the pavement into the road. It was thought he had sacrificed himself for someone's dinner, however only a short while later he appeared on the other side of the road to support the LFR Improvers on their 800m loops. Jeremy the Frog clearly prefers the red and black. Moving on... On parkrun day we had LFRs at Milton Keynes (where Paul smashed out a PB), Linford Wood, Houghton Hall, Kingsbury Water, Exmouth, and Dunstable Downs. The LFR tourists were getting the first of the parkrun compass at the sliippy, slidey trail run at the lakes of Westmill parkrun. And continuing her parkrun tour, this week Ceilia was at Albert parkrun in Melbourne! Albert Park is part of the Formula 1 Circuit - 200m of the run was on the track! At home in Rushmere, following his incredible 10K PB at Winslow last week, Tom bagged himself a parkrun PB of 19.47, his first sub-20 at Rushmere. Also running Rushmere PBs were Emily and David. Great running, guys! Marathon and half marathon training has stepped up for many members this week, getting big miles in the legs. Superb efforts. Some shout outs: Amos and Caroline who ran to Dunstable Downs, completed the parkrun, and then ran back! Emily, James and Colin out on a training run running a half marathon and Emily running a half PB; Team Turner getting 18 miles in on a canal out and back; and Adam who ran his first ever half distance along the streets of Leighton Buzzard. Great efforts! We even had the LFR Cycling Division out on training rides this weekend struggling through the wind and rain. And missing the storm completely, Karen was showing off the LFR colours on her bike in sunny Cuba! If cycling is something you're interested in, don't forget to join LFR's cycling specific Facebook Group: LFR Cycling Division. This is an additional Facebook Group solely for LFR members who have an interest in cycling for all cycling related chatter to keep this separate from our main Facebook group. This is not a new group for LFR members. We also have a dedicated section on the LFR Website to showcase all our multisport activities, currently this includes cycling and core training. Have a look at what we've been up to! If you're not sure why some of the club have an interest in cycling, or unsure as to how it compliments our running, you can read this blog all about it: Multisport For Running Longevity It was also a week of races. Hold on tight, there's a few to get through... Jo and Fiona were at race three of the Stowe Winter Trail series. Fiona ran a 5 second PB and over the three race series for the 6K came in 5th place overall! Well done, Fiona! Steve completed the Cambridge Half Marathon. Gill , Julie and Anne took a break from the LFR standard of running for cake and this week were running for chocolate at a 5K and 10K in Milton Keynes. Chocolate themed bling and a chocolate filled goodie bag - why are we not all doing this? Anna was battling the brunt of Storm Freya at the Eastbourne Half Marathon. Team LFR took on the neverending hills of the Berkhamsted Half Marathon and Five Mile Fun Run - hills are fun, see... Will, the other Will, Kevin and Jen ran the Five Mile. Matt, Vicky, Nicki, Katharine and Jenny took on the half with Katharine and Jenny running a 10 minute half marathon PB on only their second half marathon - a hillier one at that. Well done all! And finally the trail loving ultra heroes were out in force at the LDWA Chiltern Kanter - a 26 mile trail run starting and finishing in Pitstone. For those who do not know, the Kanter is plotting 30 grid references onto a OS Map and following the route as best you can. Mark, Ian, JK, Paul, Emma B, Charlotte, Emma D, Wes, Helen, Glyn and a couple LFR friends took on the challenge and all came out the other side without getting lost. Incredible work in the wind and rain. That's all for this week. Happy running, LFR!
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This is the week…we elected a new committee!
AGMThe big news of this week was our AGM where we have some new members joining our committee and where we chose the club’s charity for the coming year. Look out for the AGM minutes which will be published on the LFR website. New CommitteeLeaving the committee this year are Alice Moseley, Carrie Tyas, Neil Warby and Jane Crighton. Thank you so much for your contributions to the committee and the club. We are all extremely grateful for all that you have done and continue to do. Also leaving the committee is Rob Laughton as Chair. A huge thank you to Rob for his commitment to the club during his time on the committee as Captain and Chair. He has a busy year of personal goals ahead of him - best of luck. We can't wait to hear all about it! We have some continuing members and some new members to LFR’s Committee. Staying on in the roles are: Sandra Dunsterville - Secretary; Dan Green - Captain; Jennifer Garner - Communications; Lindsey Rigby - Kit; Max Marshall - Events & Fundraising; Matt Gilbert - Coach. Joining the committee we have: Andrew Heale - Treasurer; James Smith - Vice Captain; Caroline Mann - Membership. Joining our coaching team are Kevin Hare and Annis Turner. And of course moving into a new role on the committee is our former treasurer and now Chair, Steve Ellerton. Welcome all! The website will be updated in due course with confirmation of the above. CharityThe club charity for 2018/19 was Brain Tumour Research and LFR are making a donation to them of £6,308. We are also making a donation of £250 to Clic Sargent in recognition of the help we receive from Morrisons when putting on LFR runs and events. Clic Sargent are Morrisons’ nominated charity. Well done everyone this year on helping to raise these funds! Finally….we are delighted to announce that the club’s chosen charity for 2019/20 is Reclaim Life, a charity based in Leighton Buzzard. Reclaim Life offer five free sessions of life coaching to local residents using the Human Givens approach to promoting emotional wellbeing. Their volunteer life coaches offer practical help to deal with mental and emotional distress in the here and now, enabling clients to move on in their life as quickly as possible. Life coaching is an effective way to: Reduce anxiety Break the cycle of depression Treat psychological trauma Manage anger Stop addictive behaviour Relieve medical conditions Harmonise relationships They receive no NHS funding and all their life coaches are volunteers. It costs them approximately £80 to see each client. Any donations they receive would be used for everyday running costs which are funded solely from donations and their own fundraising events. You can view full information about Reclaim Life on their website. And after all that…..we still managed some running this week… We had our usual club runs and adventures in a week of glorious sunshine which carried on to the weekend. parkrun day saw 17 LFRs head over to the inaugural Dunstable Downs parkrun – another great local parkrun to add to the list! We also had LFRs at Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Linford Wood, Colney Lane, Sedgefield, Houghton Hall, Watermeadows and of course Rushmere. We also had Celia furthest afield with the best parkrun name of the year so far –Lake Joondalup. Wonderful. We even had some PBs at home in Rushmere this week from Jamie and David – great running, guys! It was another weekend full of events: Glyn was taking a break from Wainwright bagging, getting a marathon in instead at the AGM marathon; Sally was at the flat and sunny Hollingdon Half; and Team Ellerton were flying the LFR flag at the Winslow 10K where Tom bagged himself an incredible PB of 39:48. Chair Steve: “I was less fast, but handed out more flyers for our 10K than him” – the father/son rivalry is strong. We also had training runs aplenty: Kelly and Laura were running their furthest distance again hitting 11.36 miles, all in training for their first half marathon. Well done, ladies! And Team LFR were at the 17 mile training run put on by Gade Valley Harriers. And finally the Captain took a group out this week to recce the new 10K route in Long Marston. The race is open for entries by LFR members and the general public. If you fancy a brand new 10K – come for a run! Enter now here: Leighton 10K Entries That’s all for this week. Happy running!
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