When on the lookout for races with nice perks, the Marwell Zoo 10k would have to go down as a no brainer. All participants get a free entry to the zoo after the race for a start. That appealed to Nikki and Rob McTaggart, since they now have a baby. What better way is there to spend a Sunday than running a 10k and then have a mooch round the animal enclosures afterwards?

Another bonus about the Marwell Zoo 10k was that you are allowed to run it with a buggy, which meant both Tag and Nikki could run, rather than one of them running whilst the other just stands around watching. That was a perk you don’t get at many events, other than parkrun.

Nikki was on buggy duty, which meant that for her there was no pressure on time. It was just a case of getting round as best she could and reaping the fitness benefits the run would bring. Tag was racing it and with the speed he possesses, he was always likely to be contending for the win.

The Marwell Zoo 10k was set up to raise money to protect wildlife and this year the proceeds were going to Marwell Wildlife’s Grevy’s Zebra Conservation Project.

For a variety of reasons, there are sadly fewer than 3,000 Grevy’s zebras left in the wild and their population has declined by over 75% since the 1970s. The last stronghold of Grevy’s zebras outside of protected areas is in Kenya and it’s there that the focus is on with the Grevy’s Zebra Conservation Programme.

They look to raise awareness of wildlife conservation in the area and address challenges and threats whilst promoting ecosystem restoration and sustainability. That can help empower local communities to become stewards of their environment. It’s essentially teaching those who live in the area to understand the importance of looking after the Grevys zebra population and helping them to thrive.

The course for the Marwell Zoo 10k starts and finishes within the grounds of the zoo but it’s a very undulating course, heading out from the Penguin Cove to the village of Owlesbury along scenic country roads before heading back to the zoo.

With the promise of seeing the lions, tigers and giraffes after, it wasn’t a surprise that the race attracted some other high calibre runners besides Tag. Chichester Runners vet and serial race winner James Baker was in the vicinity and Stuart Holloway of City of Salisbury was also capable of carrying a threat. He was the man who finished ahead of Stu Nicholas in the 2023 Purbeck Trail Series and also won the Bournemouth Bay Half Marathon in 2024.

To begin with it was Stuart Holloway who led the way, with Tag following close behind. He wasn’t about to let anyone get and was stalking his prey like a lion. There was an incline at the start of the race and Tag’s pace up that was about 5:45. It was then a downhill slope for the rest of the mile and Tag was super quick on the descents, going under five minute mile pace for some of it.

After the first kilometre, it was Tag in the lead with Stuart Holloway still with him. James Baker and Richard Crawford of Lordshill Road Runners were chasing and weren’t far behind. Tag’s first mile split came out at 5:21.

The second mile was virtually all uphill but Tag was still able to get through it in 5:32. There was another downhill section on the third mile which Tag was really fast on but there was also a tough, long climb. That put Tag down to 5:56 for that mile and saw him go through 5k in 16:44.

It was now James Baker who was with him at the front and Stuart Holloway had dropped back and was 12 seconds behind. It looked like it would be between Tag and James Baker for the win.

A lot of the fourth mile was downhill which enabled Tag to get back to sub five minute mile pace. There was one more kick up on that mile before a last couple of miles of long descent. Clocking a 5:12 for the fourth mile, Tag then began to let fly.

Zooming through the fifth mile in 4:58, he then registered a 5:12 for his sixth mile. James Baker was unable to live with that pace and he had slowed down in the second half of the race, whereas Tag had sped up.

Still hitting sub five minute mile speeds for the last quarter of a mile, Tag had built up a massive lead by the time he reached the finish. Going over the line in 33:20, he’d claimed victory by a margin of 39 seconds.

James Baker took second place in 33:59, with Stuart Holloway coming in in third in a time of 34:42. Richard Crawford was fourth in 35:07, with Harry Williams of Southampton AC taking fifth in 36:33.

Tag had gone through the second 5k in 16:36, which was faster than his first 5k, so he clearly hadn’t overcooked it and paced it to perfection, even though it was such an undulating course. Clocking up 457ft of elevation, it was a really strong run from Tag to come away with an average pace of 5:21.

James Baker had been doing a challenge in September where he had to run a sub 60 ten miler every single day so he had to add another four miles on at the end of his Marwell Zoo 10k. He managed to complete the challenge in the end though, which was an incredibly impressive achievement.

Nikki also managed a negative split, completing the first 5k in 34:39 and the second in 32:24. Her finishing time of 1 hour 7 minutes put her in 748th place out of 1,161. Hardly anyone else was pushing a buggy though.

She wasn’t bothered about the time though anyway. She just wanted to enjoy it, which she did, even though it must have been hard work getting up some of those slopes with the buggy.

Hayley Weston of Romsey Road Runners was first female in 41:25 which put her in 29th place overall. Alexia Yannaros was the next woman in, in 41:42 which put her in 33rd place overall. Anna Richardson of Chandler’s Ford Swifts was third female in 43:01 which out her 46th overall.

After the race Tag was interviewed by the Daily Echo and got his picture in the local paper. It was a good confidence boosting run for him ahead of the Run Bournemouth Half Marathon, which he had lined up a couple of weeks after.

The race helped to generate £22,000 for Marwell Wildlife in the end, with £12,737 going to the Grevy’s Zebra Conservation Project. That was a massive success, with the proceeds being put to good use by Marwell’s team out in Kenya.