Luton
Athletic Club

Luton AC took part in the South of England road relay championships at the weekend over an undulating course in Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot. Saturday was dedicated to the senior and veteran men’s championships whilst Sunday hosted the senior women and young athletes races.

This was the first time the newly created Luton AC, an amalgamation of Luton United AC and Vauxhall AC, had a chance to compete in all age groups for both sexes.

The success of the merger was demonstrated by the fact that neither club had been able to field teams in these championships over recent years but the new found strength in depth saw Luton represented in all available races. They also boasted 2 top ten finishing teams in the under 15 girls, 7^th, and the under 17 men, 9^th, a strong showing in the strongest area of England. Best individual performances came from Sarah Simpson, 9^th individual in the under 15 girls and Alan Daglish, 15^th in the veteran men 50 category.

The weekend began with teams competing 2 veteran 40, 1 veteran 50 and a senior men’s team. It was the 50’s team that provided the best position with 19^th place, in which Daglish made his storming run. Chris Stebbings set the team of on the first leg coming home in 22^nd place in 23.27. Pete Sterry and Graham Thomas ran solid middle legs before Daglish’s heroics. In fact, Daglish missed the hand-over from Thomas and had he not done so would have been even further up the individual rankings, setting off a good 10 seconds after Thomas had finished.

The 40’s A team performed well where Keith McLellan was the star performer running 21.48 over the 6km 2 lap course. Kevin Jacob, making his veteran debut for the club, put in a solid performance on the second leg, in 22.38, handing over to his brother Paul before a rare outing from John Stoker brought the team home in 32^nd of the 55 finishing teams.

The B team of Steve Keepence, Steve Bassill, Richard Hardy and Rob Howells came home in 53^rd position.

Paul Farmer being unavailable weakened the Senior Men’s team, although the 6 who ran acquitted themselves well. The team of Gareth Suffling, Stuart Stills, junior Chris Green, Rob Palmer, Simon Stebbings and Dan Pocock came home in 2 hours 9 minutes and 30 seconds for the 36 kilometres. This placed them 53^rd of the 70 finishing clubs and Palmer returned the fastest leg in 20.02 for 6km.

Fortunately the rain forecast for the weekend did not materialise and Sunday proceedings began at 11am in bright sunshine.

The third event of the day, the under 15 girls race, brought Luton their best team and individual performances. The team was led off by Michelle Keepence with a storming 17^th of the 65 entries in 11.42 for the 3km loop. Claire Wilson took over the second leg moving the team up to 14^th before Simpson’s storming last leg bringing them home 7^th. The B team of Hannah Wilson, Kayleigh Watkins and Charlotte Croft came home 51^st.

Like the girls the under 15 boys enjoyed the experience coming home 14^th of the 65 starters. Tom Best proved the surprise package on the first leg handing over in 15^th place with the fastest time for the team in 10.22. Nathaniel Quigley on leg 2 moved the team up to 12^th with a solid 10.47, handing over to Colin Johnson before Perry Howarth brought the team home on the 4^th leg in 10.27

Probably the most consistent team was the under 17 men where Craig Watkins starred on leg 2 moving from 16^th to 11^th in 12.45 for the 3.9km course. Chris Drinkwater on leg 1, his brother James on leg 3 and Jamie Attwood on leg 4 all ran within 6 seconds of each other but Attwood managed to pick up 2 vital places on the last leg moving them from 11^th to 9^th, a well deserved top 10 finish.

In the first event of the afternoon on Sunday the under 13 girls ran home 25^th of the 64 starters. Rose Quigley ran the opening leg for the team in 9.27 for the 2.3km loop bringing them home in 27^th place. A solid run from Claire Tucker in 9.42 moved the team up to 24^th and on the final leg Rosalyn Keepence lost just the one place running the time of 10.05.

In the Senior women’s event the Luton AC ladies finished a highly creditable 25^th of the 57 starters. The race boasted such world stars as Sonia O’Sullivan, Benitta Johnson and Hayley Yelling plus the likes of Louise Damon, European under 23 bronze medallist over 5000 metres this summer, so their effort cannot be underestimated. It was Christine Lathwell who led the team of 4 off with an impressive 14.08 for the 3.8km course in 17^th place. It was then down to 3 veteran ladies to complete the team when Lorraine Hogan battled through on leg two in 15.30 handing over to Dee Brockway, 15.55 on leg 3 and finally Jacqui Brown on the final leg in an impressive 15.14.

In the under 17 women’s race Luton were led off by Maryanne Beever in 27^th place recording 12.58 for the 3km course. Sabella Billingy moved the team up 3 places on leg 2 with the fastest for the team in 12.35 before Charlotte Gurr moved up an impressive 5 places on the last leg to bring the team home a well deserved 19^th place.

The club’s next event is the first round of this year’s Chiltern League on 11^th October at Watford. Team Manager Chris Stebbings hopes the new found strength carries through and the club get a strong start to this winters league campaign.

Chris Stebbings

Luton AC