With 23km of hills and rugged coastline, Neil Smith had a challenging race on his hands at the Maverick Dorset
It’s often the case that the originals are the best. Dorset was actually the birthplace of the Maverick races so to all intents and purposes, the Maverick Dorset is the original. What better place for a trail race as well than Dorset with its stunning scenery and coastlines. It’s enough to get anyone up and running.
The Maverick Original Dorset event certainly appealed to Bournemouth AC man Neil Smith anyway and he wanted to make the most of it by going for the longest distance of the three offerings. That was 23km, so approximately 14.4 miles.
The runners gather ahead of the start ahead of the Maverick Original Dorset
The route encompassed 1,847ft of elevation and included at least four monster climbs. It wasn’t one for the faint hearted. Neil like a challenge though and tackled it head on.
Neil gives it all he’s got
Completing the course in 2 hours 41 minutes and 37 seconds, Neil finished 188th out of a field of 324.
The winner of the race was Sam Rodda and he got round in 1 hour 36 minutes and 36 seconds. Ryan Lovelock was 2nd in 1:49:44. Alan Hutchinson was first vet in 1:57:44 which put him in 7th place overall and Sophie Godfrey was first female in 1:59:40.
Neil got through the race in 2:41:37
The Middle distance race was 14km and that was won by Benedict Westhenry in 59:08. Brad Jones took 2nd place in 1:05:16 and Joanne Christy was first female in 1:16:20 which put her 9th overall. Jonny Tye of the Precision Hydration crew did the Middle distance one as well and he finished 6th in 1:10:30.
The stunning views of the Purbeck were a sight to behold
The views went some way toward making the tough climbs seem worthwhile
The Short distance one was 7km and that was won by Oleg Ignatev in 31:40. Tom Perryman was 2nd and first vet in 35:14 and Christina Squire was first female in 36:32 which put her 5th overall out of 158.
It was a tough one for Neil but he enjoyed the beautiful scenery on a lovely sunny day and would have certainly gained ample strength and endurance from it. A couple of weeks after Neil went on to run his first sub 20 minute parkrun since 2016 so that was a sign that is definitely seeing the green shoots of progression and that’s great to see.