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This is the week that was…
Group Night was back on the cards for the final time this year - thank you Gary, Annis, Caroline, David, Kelly, Matt and James for leading the pace groups. We had some runners trying out groups and paces they were not used to and the "Go Nuts" group taking a tour of the Strava segments of Leighton Buzzard, getting themselves crowns, and trophies all over the town! Also on Tuesday Ian was back leading a headtorch trail run around Aspley Heath - only one tumble from the current Runner of the Month! Thanks for leading the trailrunners, Ian! Vicky was leading the Fartlek fun on Wednesday, Captain Dan took the Improvers on Thursday and Alan was leading the Friday Morning Boys to the Leighton Riviera on Friday. Doesn't it look fantastic? On parkrun day we had runners at Linford Wood, Houghton Hall (where Carrie was 7th lady, 1st in her age category AND ran a PB!), Exmouth, Sixfields Upton and of course Rushmere. At Rushmere and on his 100th parkrun Andrew came 2nd! Frustratingly beaten by a first timer! David and Jim fought closely for 6th and 7th just two seconds apart with Gavin coming in 11th and Emily bagging herself a PB! Saturday saw LFR's annual Santa Dash for local charity KidsOut. Another fantastic turnout despite the wind and rain, with sweets and smiles galore. Whilst not a race, I'm sure mini LFR James Parker won't mind us telling you all that he came in first. Well done, James! A huge well done to all who took part and a massive thank you to all the LFR volunteers without whom the event would not be possible. A huge thank you also and well done to Tam and Tracy, the organisers, who put on another fantastic event. And thank you Caroline for the incredible photos. You can view all photos on the Facebook Event. Here are a selection... New member Claire was also running a Santa Dash at the weekend. This one was in Marlow on Sunday. Claire was getting her first ever running medal! Well done, Claire! At the Bedford Half on Sunday we had some fantastic performances from Martin, Chris and Caroline - who ran a smashing new PB. Was this your last half marathon of the year, Caroline? For those who don't know, Caroline has run a half marathon every month this year! And to finish off with a PB...superb! Also running at the weekend was Colin who smashed out a marathon PB of 3.22 at the Nottingham Christmas Marathon. He was spotted dancing the night away on Saturday night following this marathon effort - clearly he had more in his legs...! Excellent work, Colin! And finally, the weekend saw Rob, Paul D, Mark, and Paul L take on the brutal Jurassic Coast Ultra. 34 Miles. 6000ft of climbing. Trails. The boys completed what is already an epic challenge, but in never-ending 50mph winds and horizontal rain. Incredible. They did it. They survived. Heroes. Give them a huge pat on the back when you see them next - perhaps not too hard though, they may still be a little sore... That's all for this week. Happy Running, LFR!
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This is the week that was…
Tuesday saw our favourite Out and Back to The Star, Andy and Tom even making it so far they managed a loop at the top before heading back. Paul was leading the Fartlekkers on Wednesday –he left his Doyleyvision camera at home so some better pictures appeared of this week’s antics. Matt and Andy took over leading the Improvers on Thursday for some hellish hill repeats at Greenhill. If you’ve not tired these before, go next time – they’re had work, but a lot of fun! And Friday had Karen leading the gang on a tour of the various lakes and parks of Leighton Buzzard. Wonderful! On parkrun day we had LFRs at Bushy, Milton Keynes, Rickmansworth, Linford Wood, Houghton Hall (where Gill ran herself a parkrun PB), Exmouth, Wendover Woods and of course Rushmere. At Rushmere, Andy and Jamie found their places in the top 10 – Andy completing his 99th parkrun! One more until he gets another fancy tshirt… Michelle bagged herself a smashing new PB – denying it was even possible before she set off. Superb running. And more PBs came from Richard and Nicki. Great work, parkrun fans! Out racing at the weekend was Graham at the Watford Autumn 10K running himself a 12 second course PB….excellent work, Coops! And finally, the weekend’s main event….Race 2 of the Three Counties Cross Country League! This week the league went to Wellingborough for the infamous water crossing. A team of 23 LFRs ran the course with another 400 runners. A huge well done to all of you. The LFR Ladies came in 6th with the men 9th. After the two races, our overall team position is 7th (out of 13). A fantastic achievement! Massive thank you and shouts out required: Jane for all your organising and working so hard; Tam for the league scoring; Tracy for supporting; Steph for team scoring, bag drop and cheering and of course, Will, who was supporting, getting dirty and taking the most incredible photos of the mud. Here are just a small selection... There are three races left of the league: Sunday 16th December – North HertsSunday 13th January – AmpthillSunday 27th January – Wootton It’s not too late to register if you’d like to join in the cross country fun. Drop an email to Jane (jane.crighton@hotmail.co.uk), with your name, DOB and email address and we'll get you registered and ready to run! Full details and information on the league can be found online. That’s all for this week. Well done everyone who was out running, training, cycling, anything this week. See you next time, LFR.
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This is the week that was…
Tuesday had a group run with a difference - Ian taking out the trail runners on a headtorch run around Woburn, dodging the deer. Back in town we had our usual Group Night with everyone enjoying their different pace groups. Janice was doing what she does best, inflicting pain on the Fartlek Fun Runners on Wednesday. Captain Dan put on a Tabata session in the park for the Improvers on Thursday and JK took out the lovely LFR ladies for a trail run around Rushmere for the Friday morning Fun Run. Great fun. On parkrun day, Team LFR made appearances at Luton Wardown, Linford Wood, Houghton Hall, Buckingham, Exmouth and of course Rushmere. At Rushmere, Tom remembered his barcode this week and came in third with a faster time! Well done Tom! David Parker came in 10th running a brand new PB. Well done Dave! Marianne came in 1st lady. Superb running, Marianne! And Jeremy was running his 50th parkrun at Rushmere! Great work, Jeremy. He says he can retire now. Following parkrun was the Dirt Half! An LFR favourite! We had a HUGE number of runners taking part and some fantastic achievements. A huge well done to everyone. A few shout outs: Gavin bagged another PB and rewarded himself with beer from the brewery! New member David Pym was running his first half marathon in a smashing time of 1.51. He only ran his first ever mile back in March - what an achievement! Well done, David! What shoes did you wear in the end?! Captain Dan ran a half marathon PB (he also ran the first 10K in 40 minutes - incredible!) Sam was running just her second half marathon, coming in under 2 hours for the first time. Michelle ran a course PB - a massive 8 minutes faster than last year. And Nic also ran a course PB! Finally Mr Paul Doyle who decided that running the Dirt Half wasn't enough, ran parkrun in the morning. Just because. Madness! We also had LFRs volunteering at the water stations, at the finish, everywhere! And so many of the club on the route shouting support to everyone. It really helps the runners to hear "GO LFR" as they run round. That's why we had so many PBs! Thank you to all the supporters - you are brilliant. Sunday was another very busy day. It was the return of the MoRun in Milton Keynes and the annual appearance of Davina who ran a 36s 10K PB, even transforming into Dave when her hair flew off on the final stretch! There were more PBs from Kelly and Laura on the 10K and Lisa and Leon both bagged PBs at the 5K - Leon smashing it the finish! Great efforts. Also on Sunday we had Dan and Peter at the Hertfordshire Half Marathon. Julian, Jim and Vicky taking on Herberts Hole 10K. Caroline ran her own half dubbed "The Slapton Half" and in doing so ran her 11th half marathon of 2018 and completed her 500 mile challenge for the year! Great running, Caroline! And finally it was the Sundon Saunter on Sunny Sunday! Emma, Charlotte and Sally (who clearly wasn't content with running just one half marathon this weekend) took on the 12.7 miles of trails. And Mark, non-LFR Mark, Ian, Marianne, Paul, another Mark, JK and Verity all completed the marathon. They stayed together the whole way round tackling some route changes, but it meant they got to run on different trails. Quote from Ian: "Almost a perfect trail marathon." Sounds truly wonderful! A massive shout out to Verity. Not only did she complete the Sundon Saunter Marathon on Sunday, she ran the Dirt Half on Saturday! Just a little warm up. Superb effort. Now.....there has been a lot of talk the last couple of weeks of LFR photos and photos of the week. Of course we are all aware of the incredible Doyleyvision - always a winner. This week, however, we have had some serious contenders for the crown. Captain Dan's Doyley Camera shot of the group run on Tuesday. Annis' shot of Smiffy's catalogue pose....this was superb. The LFR Ladies celebrating the 80s. However, nothing can beat a picture of our very own legend at the Sundon Saunter.......writing legend on his photo....here we have Ian's shot of The Legend also known as JK......LFR's Picture of the Week! That's all for this week. Happy Running, LFR! As it has been an incredibly busy weekend of events, I am bound to have missed something or got something wrong! If so, do just let me know and I can give you a shout out next week! Remember if you'd like anything in particular mentioned in the newsletter, you can send me a message on Facebook or email me at publicity@leightonfunrunners.org.uk - Jen 🙂
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This is the week that was…
…oh…so…quiet…. We had Captain Dan’s hilly out and back to start the club runs off this week. Kevin took control of the Fartlek Fun Whistle on Wednesday putting Graham and Tom to the test. Andrew was leading the Improvers for some Soulbury Road Hill Reps and took what is definitely the picture of the week. You’ve got some competition, Doyley. And VC Alice was out leading the super Friday morning runners in the sun! On parkrun day we had runners at Rushmere, Luton Wardown, Milton Keynes, Cannon Hill, Henley-on-Thames, Linford Wood, Houghton Hall, Aylesbury, Thetford and Queen Elizabeth. Where will we all be next week? At home in Rushmere, we had a brand new RD who just so happens to be an LFR…..current Runner of the Month, Mr Paul Doyle! Excellent first time RD. On the running side, Tom came in 2nd (although he came though Unknown – don’t forget your barcode, Tom!), with Andrew close behind in 3rd and Kevin and Jim taking their places at 9th and 10th. It was a quiet weekend for events. Just the one LFR collecting bling: Emma was out marathoning at the Remembrance Day Marathon, this time as a guide runner. What an incredible thing to do! Glyn was back Wainwright bagging over the weekend, getting in High Raise, Rest Dodd and the Nab. We had lots of LFRs out on their training runs and rides. The stand out run was from the long distance lovers who managed to fit in a photo shoot during their 20 mile jaunt around Ashridge. Always a fun bunch! A very quiet week this week. Next week is certain to be busier with plenty of LFRs taking on the Dirt Half on Saturday. If you’re not running the half, why not get out and support the runners along the route. The event starts at Cedars School, following the canal to Stoke Hammond before going up the mountain to Great Brickhill. From there the route heads through Rushmere following the Greensand Ridge Walk back to the canal, returning to Cedars. Plenty of places to spot some runners - if you wait around at The Globe, you'll see them twice! Have a great week, LFR! Don't forget to let us know what you've been up to. And send in your pics!
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This is the week that was…
....Halloween! We began with a Halloween themed cake night. So many of you provided so many wonderful bakes....just look at this selection....Of course there could only be one winner. Congratulations to Will on his Day of the Dead themed skull cake. Truly terrifying! Kevin took the lead for the Frightening Fartlek on Halloween on Wednesday with Captain Dan leading the Creepy Caterpillars on Hallowmas on Thursday. Out doing some midweek racing on Halloween were Gill, Chris, Kelly and Laura at the Cattle Creepy 10K - very spooky running at night, but showing off their hi-viz in style. Friday saw Captain Dan take out the Freaky Friday runners before the big event on Friday evening - the LFR Halloween Run! What an incredible night we had! A lot of spooks, scares and of course fun. A huge thank you to everyone involved: the runners; the scarers; the organisers; and everyone who came along to have some Halloween fun with the club. Another big, scary success - roll on next year! To see some of the pictures from the event, you can see view these on our website together with some of our previous invite nights: LFR Invite Nights The weekend came and on parkrun day we had LFRs at Milton Keynes, Southport, Linford Wood, Colney Lane, Houghton Hall, Aylesbury, Beeston (first time tourist Ali heading there), Rushmere, Richmond Olympic and furthest afield with my new favourite parkrun name: parkrun du Bois de Boulogne - thanks to Mark and Ruby for heading to Paris for that one! At home at Rushmere, they were celebrating their third birthday with a wonderful teddy bear theme! Favourite costume has to be TC who dressed as a dragon and carried round a toy Tigger - an interesting take on the bear theme! We had a massive 39 LFRs at Rushmere with their bear friends, and some PBs too from David and Elle!Also celebrating at Rushmere was David Ayers who was running his 100th parkrun!And mini LFR James Parker was running his 50th parkrun. On his birthday. Getting a PB. And celebrating with an amazing Rushmere parkrun themed cake. Just look at this: It wouldn't be the weekend without some racing going on. Gill was in all the LFR gear getting another medal at the Rockingham 5K and a 20 second PB and coming 2nd in her age category! Team Turner were half marathoning this time at the Enigma Fireworks Half Marathon running a superb time of 2.12 - almost back to their PB pace. And Sally completing the wonderful Marlow Half - plenty of hills on a pretty course with fab marshals and cheering crowds. Well done, Ladies! And finally it was Race One of the Three Counties Cross Country League at Dunstable on Sunday. We had a MASSIVE turnout of LFRs for our cross country team...the LFR Men came in 7th and the LFR Ladies came in 8th...superb results for LFR! Well done everyone! The second race is at Wellingborough on Sunday 25th November. It's not too late to sign up for the cross country team. If you want to take part in any of the races, please email our Cross Country Secretary Jane with your email address and date of birth. There are four races remaining this season which you can view on the club's event page. Information about each race will be emailed out in the week before each race. There is no cost as LFR pay the fees for you. Get involved! That's all for this week. See you next time, LFR!
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This is the week that was…
The week began with our group night - big thanks as always to our run leaders Matt, Kevin, David, Stephen, Michelle and Captain Dan. On Wednesday we had "four fearsome fartlekkers frolicking with our four legged friend Floss" - great words, Paul (I may be out of a job). Thursday had Matt leading the Improvers for 1K loops - they weren't event distracted by the pub. And Friday Chris was back leading the Friday morning run - a chilly start, but Alan was on hand to bring the sunshine at the end. On parkrun day we had LFRs at Poole, Linford Wood, Houghton Hall, Aylesbury, Wendover Woods, Workington, Gadebridge, Rushmere and the tourist mad bunch taking on Wimpole Estate, running away from cows! At home in Rushmere, Andrew just made the top 10 and Jamie bagged himself a PB coming in 12th. Our wonderful home parkrun is celebrating it's 3rd birthday on Saturday - why not come along for a Bears in the Woods themed celebration! Come dressed as a bear or bring your favourite bear with you. It will also be parkrun #100 for Mr David Ayres - come celebrate with him. There may well be cake! The weekend came and there was of course racing aplenty. Team LFR smashed it at the Poppy Run Milton Keynes with some very snazzy medals and tshirts. James, who is on top form right now, ran another amazing PB at the Leicestershire 10K - 41.09. What's next, James?! And Elle was at the Edlesborough 5K coming in 3rd overall and was 1st lady! Superb running! This weekend was also the brutal Snowdonia Marathon where Team LFR were out in force again and we had some brilliant runs from everyone. A huge well done to Mark, Captain Dan, Paul L, Nic, Dawn, Paul T and Jen who took on and conquered the mountain roads. And a massive thank you to Wes and James who, even though they were injured and couldn't take part, still supported all our runners coming home. A shout out to wonderful Helen who took a tumble and ripped open her knee not long from the start of the marathon - many many stitches required. Great work from the race organisers who saw her in minutes, and Wes for jumping in and taking her to the hospital. And a huge thank you to Wes's friends from North Herts Road Runners who stayed with her until she was seen to. This may not be the story she wanted, but she made it on TV! You're famous now. Another fantastic week from LFR. See you next time!
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This is the week that was…
…full of personal bests! The week began with an out and back on Tuesday and Captain Dan testing the darkness for the Halloween Run. Janice took on her…
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This is the week that was…
…all about the London Marathon Ballot. On Monday we had a flurry of members confirming they’re in the London Marathon! This continued all week, and with our good for…
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This is the week that was…
We had our club runs as usual with the out and back to The Star on Tuesday, Claire leading the Fartlek Fun on Wednesday, James taking the Improvers for…
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