It never seems that long to wait until the new season of the Dorset Road Race League starts up. A couple of Christmas parties, one turkey dinner and the annual wearing of a questionable jumper and it’s time to do it all over again. And with the Junction Broadstone Quarter Marathon taking place on New Year’s Day, it’s straight into competition mode, no messing about.

A somewhat underwhelming campaign saw both the Bournemouth AC men and ladies teams struggling for survival in their respective First Divisions. It took a big performance in the final race of the season at the Boscombe 10k for the Bournemouth AC men to lift themselves off the bottom and away from the relegation trapdoor.

Finishing second to First Division champions Poole AC, the Bournemouth AC men managed to save themselves in the end and in fact, finished level with Twemlow Track Club, sending Poole Runners down to the Second Division.

The ladies team weren’t quite able to get out of trouble in the end and had suffered as a result of rarely fielding a full strength team over the course of the season. Hence they will be competing in the Second Division this season, where only three members will be required to form a scoring team.

Although it’s a challenging course, including two trips up the gruelling Gravel Hill, the Junction Broadstone Quarter Marathon proved surprisingly popular even amongst the Bournemouth AC fraternity and they were able to pull together strong men’s and ladies teams.

The squad lining up for the yellow and blues included last year’s race winner Rob McTaggart and Broadstone Quarter Marathon course record holder Joe Arundel, who had that incredible dual with Bournemouth AC teammate Ollie James in 2024. Joe came out on top in a scintillating time of 34:18 that day.

They also had Under 20 sensation Jon Pepin who had a brilliant season last year. Winning the Run Bournemouth Supersonic 10k in 31:53, he went on to finish 10th in the Hampshire Cross Country League fixture at Wellesley Woods.

Earlier in the season he came 20th in the English National Cross Country Champs at Parliament Hill and 20th in the Inter Country Champs at Wollaton Park. He also finished 3rd in the Hampshire Cross Country League race at Prospect Park and 6th in the Hampshire County Championships.

They also had Stu Nicholas who won the Purbeck Trail Series last season, as well the BigMud Marathon and the New Forest Xmas Trails 30k, not to mention 30 odd parkruns. Coming off the back of a record breaking run in a Santa suit at the Portsmouth Festive Half Marathon, Luke De-Benedictis was also in the line up.

The ladies had Kate Bowers, Helen Beddoe, Sophie Read and Julia Austin in their ranks and it was great to see that they were going in with the intention of taking the league races a bit more seriously this season.

There were some interesting movers and shakers over the short pre-season, with the man who finished third in the Dorset League individual standings, Lewis Clarke, making the switch from Poole Runners to Poole AC. That would massively help strengthen an already formidable looking outfit for the defending champions.

They had also recruited Luke McKenzie from Poole Runners as well and he’ll also provide added strength in depth. Egdon Heath Harriers had signed the man who got narrowly edged out by Rob McTaggart in last year’s Broadstone Quarter Marathon, Harry Tongue.

Poole AC had a really strong side out for the Broadstone Quarter Marathon, including 2025 Dorset League men’s individual runner up Thomas Corbin and the man who finished 2nd to Jamie Grose at the Round the Lakes 10k in September and 3rd in the Run Bournemouth Half Marathon, Etienne Tillon.

They also had Under 20 superstar Charlie Collins who won all four of the Wessex Cross Country League fixtures, including the Dorset County Championships. Those races included seniors as well as Under 20’s and he demolished everyone.

The begin with, it was a lead group of three, made up of Charlie Collins, Joe Arundel and Harry Tongue. Joe might have been thinking at this point that he could be in with a chance of replicating his 2024 victory.

After about 4k, it was Charlie Collins though who was looking the strongest and he began to push the pace. Harry Tongue was hanging on in there though and wasn’t willing to surrender just yet.

They’d been running at around 5:05 pace for most of the miles and 5:30 for the two when they were heading up Gravel Hill. Then, as they reached the descent on the last half mile, the were going at 4:28 pace. It was unbelievably quick.

With about 100m to go, Harry made his move and managed to outkick Charlie. Reaching the line in an incredible time of 33:56, Harry took the win, with Charlie coming in three seconds later in 33:59. Harry had basically done to Charlie what Tag had done to him last year.

It was the first time any athlete had gone under 34 minutes at the Broadstone Quarter Marathon as well, so a new course record had been claimed. They’d gone through 10k in 32:17 and come away with an average pace of 5:10 in a 6.58 mile race with 475ft of elevation.

That left Joe having to settle for 3rd place this time round and he went over the line in 34:26. That was only eight seconds outside his previous course record time though so it was still a good run from Joe.

Jon Pepin then arrived four seconds later to make it two Bournemouth AC men in the top four. His average pace was 5:15 and that was a terrific run from Jon.

A trio of Poole AC runners took the next three places, with Tommy Corbin taking 5th in 34:33, Etienne Tillon 6th in 35:53 and Lewis Clarke 7th in 35:10.

 

 

 

 

 

Finishing only 17 seconds outside of his winning time from last year, Rob McTaggart took 8th position in 35:15. His pace had been strong for most of the miles but it was mostly on the hills that he’d struggled. It was still a time that would have won the race in quite a few previous years.

The fact it was only good enough for 8th on this occasion underlined the strength of competition in the Dorset League races these days. The standard just seems to keep getting higher as the athletes push each other onto faster times.

With Poole AC having four finishers and Bournemouth AC having three, it seemed like it would be a straight shoot out between the two for top spot in the Men’s First Division. Dom Willmore arrived in 9th place though to seal it for the defending champions, going over the line in 35:49.

Rob Arkell of Poole Runners completed the top ten in 36:35, before Bournemouth AC pair Luke De-Benedictis and Stu Nicholas arrived in 11th and 12th positions.

Luke clocked a time of 36:43 which put his average pace for the run at 5:36. That was another superb run from him. Stu crossed the line in 37:03, putting his average pace at 5:41. That was only four seconds outside his 2024 time, even though he felt like he hadn’t paced it too well on this occasion.

In theory that should have been second place sealed for Bournemouth AC with five men already in. Unfortunately, Joe Arundel wasn’t wearing his Bournemouth AC vest though which meant he was omitted from the league scoring. That left them needing one more man in to confirm that runner up spot.

 

 

 

 

 

They got it when Stu Bowers arrived in 68th place, registering a time of 42:16. That made him 60th scorer for the league and 7th in the 50-54 category. It was great to see Stu out racing again after missing much of 2025 through injury.

 

 

 

 

 

As for the women, Kate Bowers was 7th female in a time of 45:27 and 6th scorer for the league. She was 2nd in the 40-44 category.

 

 

Helen Beddoe was 16th female in a time of 47:24 and Sophie Read was next woman over the line in 47:30 to complete the scoring team of three. Helen was 13th scorer for the league and 2nd in the 45-49 category. Sophie was 14th scorer for the league and 1st in the 25-29 category.

That was enough to see the Bournemouth AC women top the standings in the Second Division. Dorchester RIOT were 2nd, with Purbeck Runners in 3rd.

 

Dawn Andrews of Poole AC was first female in a time of 42:36, with Elizabeth Dyson of Haldon Trail Runners taking 2nd in 43:34. She wasn’t a scorer for the league though which meant more points to be hoovered up by the others.

Egdon Heath Harriers topped the standings in the first division and they had three runners in the top six. Victoria Barnett came 3rd in exactly 44 minutes, Teresa Green was 5th in 44:52 and Hannah Jardine was 6th in 45:23.

Vicky Rutter of Littledown Harriers was 4th female 44:04 and it was Littledown Harriers who took 2nd place in the Ladies First Division, with defending champions Poole Runners only finishing 3rd.

Jud Kirk finished 223rd overall in a time of 52:20 and that put him 6th in the 65-69 category for the league. Julia Austin was 62nd placed female in a time of 54:32 and she was 6th in the 60-64 category for the league.

Louise Price was 116th female in a time of 1:02:24 and she came 14th in the 55-59 category for the league. Ian Graham finished 394th overall and 2nd in the 75-79 category with his time of 1:03:56.

Rounding things off from a Bournemouth AC perspective was Emma Biggs who completed the course in 1:06:16, making her 129th female and 4th in the 30-34 category for the league.

It had been an excellent start to the season for the Bournemouth AC men and women and they will be hoping to carry that momentum through to the next two fixtures which are the Blackmore Vale Half Marathon, followed by the Lytchett 10.

It has proved more difficult for the club to get teams out for the longer distance races in the past so they will need to have people ready and will to step up and do their bit if they are to continue their challenge at the top of their respective tables.