It was a third consecutive week of racing for Jack Barwick and Katie Gunn after they’d done the Swansea Half Marathon, followed by the Purbeck 10k, plus the Alresford 10k for Katie, then they lined up for the Exbury Gardens 10k.

It was quite an exertion, especially for Katie since she’d done the London Marathon and the North Dorset Village Marathon the week after, the previous month. She’d done a lot of training during her marathon block though so wanted to cash in on the fitness she’d built up from the extended interval sessions and long training runs.

Her marathon results had been mixed as she was sick during the London Marathon which made it a real struggle but she bounced back quickly to finish first female in 3 hours 20 minutes at the North Dorset Village Marathon.

Since overcoming his fear of crossing the finish line, Jack Barwick was discovering a newfound love for racing and he was really enjoying the competitive element of it and seeing how far he could push himself.

It felt like he too could now cash in on all the hard work he’d put in in training over the years and make the most of the speed he’d developed through the sessions on the track and the many hill sessions he’d attended as well.

Since he’d started entering races, Jack’s work ethic in general running had gone up a notch as well and he was building some good long runs out on the lumpy Lytchett roads into his schedule as well.

When the day of the Exbury Gardens 10k arrived, the weather was scorching, which made it a little tougher that it otherwise would have been. Katie was a little bit hungover as well which didn’t help her cause.

The course was a sort of out and back loop and the trajectory was slightly down on the way out and slightly up on the way back. Jack made a very solid start, clocking a 5:52 for each of his first three mile splits, putting his 5k time at 18:19. It was very consistent pacing and put him in 7th place out of 883 runners.

Katie started off with a 6:02 for her first mile split, followed by a 6:10 and then a 6:25. That put her first 5k at 19:24 and saw her placed 24th overall. She was also second female at that stage.

The second half of the race was a bit tougher, with a lot of it being on a slight inline but Jack powered through it well, clocking a 6:11 for his fourth mile split before going on to register a 6:20 for his fifth and a 6:28 for his sixth.

That equated to a 19:44 for his second 5k which was 9th best in the field. He’d kept his 7th place position in the race though, going over the line in 38:01 which put his average pace for the run at 6:06 per mile. It was a really strong performance from Jack and constituted his fastest 10k yet.

Finding it a bit of a battle in the second half of the race, Katie clocked a 6:50 for her fourth mile before registering a 6:44 for her fifth mile and 6:36 for her sixth. When she arrived at the finish line, she’d ran the second half in 20:42 which was 25th best in the field and second best female.

That meant she’d finished 25th overall in a time of 40:05 and had come in as the second placed female out of 462. That was a pretty good result for Katie, all things considered, and her average pace for the run was 6:27.

The only woman who was able to beat that on the day was Hayley Weston of Romsey Road Runners. She took 11th place overall in a time of 38:48 which was a terrific run from her.

David Healy of Southampton AC picked up the win in time of 34:28, with Matthew Bennett of Romsey Road Runners taking second in 35:12. Adam King was third in 36:02 and Patrick Connors of Lordshill took fourth in 36:32.

The next race that Katie and Jack had lined up was the Lordshill 10k, which was the final race in the Hampshire Road Race League. Although the league title had already been wrapped up, the yellow and blues wanted to go out on a high and road runners head honcho Rich Nelson had tried to get as many of the squad in on it as he could to enjoy the celebrations of another hugely successful Hampshire Road League season.

Thanks to Derek Jennings for taking these top notch photos at the Exbury Gardens 10k.