After failing to field a team in the previous Hampshire Road Race League fixture, the Hayling 10, the Bournemouth AC men were looking to get back on track at the Gosport Half Marathon. They were still top of the table though, since no club in the third division had managed to field a team for all three fixtures thus far. Topping the standings in the first two fixtures, the Overton 5 and the Solent Half Marathon had stood them in good stead and they were looking to emulate that at the Gosport Half.

The race had garnered a fair bit of interest amongst the BAC camp and it was looking like they would have a good quality squad to bring to the table. Rob McTaggart, Rich Brawn, Paddy McCallister, Barry Dolman and Stu Nicholas were all down for it. They were joined by Craig Palmer, Patrick Kingston and Simon Hearn, meaning theoretically they would have enough for an A and a B string team.

Tag had been the main driver toward getting the club to join the Hampshire Road Race League as he knew there were some fantastic races in the calendar that would be more competitive for runners at his sort of level and more courses where it would be possible to produce a fast time. The Gosport Half Marathon was definitely one of them, with the route being predominantly flat and including a fair bit of promenade as well.

It had been a good week for Tag and he already had two race wins under his belt. Taking a controlled victory in the first race of the Boscombe Winter 5k Series on Tuesday night, he then followed that up with a win in the Inter Financial Services Cross Country Championships the next evening. Could he make it a hat trick at the Gosport Half Marathon? No doubt he would have some much stiffer competition in this one but if he runs well, there aren’t too many men out there who can better Tag over a half marathon distance.

The last time Tag ran in the Gosport Half Marathon was back in 2012 when he finished in 1:11:03 and came 7th. He was also 7th the year before that as well in 1:11:49.

Stu Nicholas had produced some excellent half marathon performances recently, recording a PB of 1:13:58 at Chippenham when he was running for a Dorset county team. Then the week later he won the Solent Half Marathon in 1:15:09.

Coming into it off the back of a 55:23 10 miler at the Great South Run, Craig Palmer was continuing to build his fitness and stamina although he was still some way off his very best form.

Rich Brawn had also been competing in the Great South Run that day and had recorded a new PB of 58:22 but hadn’t really been at his best in any of his subsequent races. An ongoing knee injury had been making it very difficult for him to train as hard as he usually does and as a result, his form seemed to be dipping somewhat. He’d also been suffering from quite a bad cold since doing the Hayling 10 two weeks prior in very wet conditions, Hence he wasn’t overly confident about doing well in the Gosport Half.

It was another opportunity for Rich to meet up with his brother Dave who used to run for Portsmouth Joggers. He’d since moved away to Wales but had come back for the Gosport Half Marathon, knowing it was a good race from doing on several previous occasions. His best time in it was 1:29:45 but he’d posted a half marathon PB of 1:27:13 at Newport earlier in the year so he was hoping to be more in that sort of region.

Having registered a half marathon PB of 1:27:12 at Cambridge earlier in the year, Simon Hearn hadn’t performed quite so well in the Bath Half, coming in with a time of 1:29:15. He was hoping that at Gosport he might be able to get close to his Cambridge time but it was always difficult to predict how it was going to go on the day.

Paddy McCalister and Barry Dolman had been following a half marathon training plan in preparation for the race, doing some slightly longer interval sessions that they hoped would help build up their speed endurance. It was going to be interesting to see what impact that would have on their times.

Having only recently transferred to the club as a first claim member, Patrick Kingston had done quite a few of the recent races, including the Boscombe Winter 5k Series one and the Hampshire Cross Country League fixture at Aldershot the previous weekend. He’d also competed in the Solent Half Marathon on the last weekend of September recording a time of 1:34:47.

It was quite windy on the day of the race, so with part of the route being along the seafront, that was bound to influence pace, times and potentially tactics as well. The first three miles of the course were more inland, before it then turned onto the seafront for a three mile stretch along the promenade. It was then a second lap of the that same route before heading to the finish.

The one saving grace was that the wind was blowing in a westerly direction meaning that it be behind them when the runners were heading along the promenade. That was quite handy, but it meant they’d have a menacing breeze to contend with when heading in the other direction.

Opening with a quick first mile at 5:16, Tag then registered a 5:31 and a 5:25 for his next two miles, which were quite tough going into the wind. Once he turned and headed back along the promenade, he picked the pace up to 5:21 for the next two miles and then 5:18 for his sixth mile. On the 7th mile, he turned and started on his second lap.

The 8th and 9th miles were a real grind, with a second dose of the headwind to contend with. Tag was still going at 5:36 and 5:32 pace though, so he stayed strong before unleashing on the 10th mile once the wind was behind him. That led a 5:21 split before he really began to motor for the last three miles.

Breaking away from the group he was in, he then went on to reel in three more opponents who were 150 metres up the road. Hitting speeds of 5:05, 5:14 and 5:04 in his last three miles, it was a really strong closing 5k from Tag and he burst through the last stretch into the finish at 4:48 pace.

Crossing the line in 1:10:16, Tag sealed a superb 3rd place, just ahead of Winchester & District man Chris Powner who took 4th in 1:10:28. It was only Matt Sharp of Ryde Harriers and Stephen Blake of Aldershot Farnham & District were quick enough to come in ahead of Tag.

Matt Sharp got round in a scintillating time of 1:07:56 and Stephen Blake arrived shortly after in 1:08:06. They were both well clear of the rest of the field, with over two minutes on Tag. Aldershot Farnham & District aren’t in the Hampshire Road Race League though so Tag was effectively 2nd scorer.

It turned out to be a very good day for Ryde Harriers as they also had Thomas Newnham finishing in 7th place in 1:10:41 and Will Newnham taking 9th in 1:11:02. Egdon Heath Harriers man Matt Papa was running as well and he came in in 11th place recording a time of 1:11:28.

Going through the first mile in 5:23, Stu Nicholas then followed that up with a 5:38 for his next couple of miles and then a 5:37 on the fourth mile where he turned down onto the prom. He then went through the next three miles in 5:31, 5:35 and 5:34, putting in remarkably consistent spits considering the different in wind direction between the three mile blocks.

The 8th mile was the only one he went down to 6 minutes per mile on, before a 5:54 for his 9th mile. Those were the two tough headwind miles. He then turned down onto the prom with a 5:46 for his 10th mile, leaving him with just that find 5k left to go.

Again, his splits were extremely consistent, with a 5:34, followed by a 5:40 and a 5:30, before picking it up and finishing strongly in the final section. That got him to the finish line in 1:14:05, which put him in 18th place. To get within 7 seconds of his personal best was quite an achievement with the conditions as they were, so that was an excellent run from Stu. Out of the HRRL club runners, Stu was 9th, which was a very good result.

Starting with a 5:53 for his first mile, Rich Brawn then registered a couple of 6:05 miles before getting back under 6 minutes per mile as he turned onto the promenade. He then managed to pick the pace up a touch, very much enjoying having the wind behind him. It wasn’t quite as quick as he’d hoped though but he knew with those same three miles to finish with, he’d be strong over the last 5k.

The difficulty would be getting through those second few miles into a headwind. He decided to allow his pace to drop on the 8th and 9th miles, knowing that he’d be able to pick it up again on the final stretch. He was working with a runner from Andover and the pair took it in turns at the front to bear the brunt of the wind and share the burden.

Once that section was over, Rich began to start pushing, knowing the hard bits of the run were done. He then began to accelerate away from the chap he was running with and went in pursuit of others ahead.

He felt pretty good over the next couple of miles before turning off the promenade for the final mile and a bit. That section was particularly fast as it was slightly downhill, as well as with a following wind.

As he turned off the promenade, Emlyn Hughes of Fareham Crusaders overtook him and was looking strong. Trying to decide whether he should battle to win his place back, Rich decided against it in the end as he didn’t want to risk burning himself out before the finish was in sight.

Clocking a time of 1:19:23, Rich had finished 41st in the overall standings and was 27th scorer in the Hampshire Road Race League. It was 1 minute 17 seconds off his half marathon PB though so it wasn’t a great time from Rich but he was still quite pleased with it, given all the problems he’d been having. He’d feared it could have been worse anyway.

One of the standout performances of the day came from a Bournemouth AC perspective came from Barry Dolman. He started the race very conservatively, hanging quite a way back from the start line and running with Paddy for the first mile. He then began to crank it up slightly in the second mile.

That approach seemed to work for him and once he’d lifted the pace up to 6:19 in the third mile he was then able to stay at that for virtually the next 7 miles. He didn’t even slow down that much on the 8th and 9th miles, which was when most people started to suffer.

He started to pick the pace up in the 10th mile and then for the final 5k, he really managed to turn the screw, going under 6 minutes for the first time in the 11th mile and then ending with an impressive 5:51 for his 13th mile. That culminated in a finishing time of 1:22:43, putting Barry in 76th place.

That put him 6th in the V50 category and he was 4th scorer for the Bournemouth AC men, completing their A-string team for the fixture. He was 47th scorer in the league.

Emma Jolley of City of Portsmouth was 1st female, crossing the line in 1:21:34, which put her in 62nd place overall. Rich had seen at the Great South Run and she was saying then that she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to make it to the Gosport Half due to other commitments. She must have been pretty glad she did manage to make it in the end.

Kate Rowland of Kent AC was 2nd female, although she wasn’t a scorer in the Hampshire Road Race League. She got round in 1:22:21 which put her in 68th place overall. Finishing one place behind Barry, Charlie Metcalfe of Ryde Harriers was 3rd placed woman, completing the course in 1:23:06.

Lucy Foreman of Cambridge Harriers was 4th female, getting round in 1:24:32, and Valeria Sesto of Lymington Athletes was 5th in 1:24:36. They came 102nd and 103rd overall.

Also turning in a magnificent performance and surprising himself with how well he ran was Paddy McCalister. He started off at just under 6:45 pace for the first three miles. Then for the next three miles he was just over 6:30 pace as he headed along the promenade before registering a 6:28 for his 7th mile. As he hit the headwind section again, he was back down to just below 6:45 pace but managed to maintain a similar speed to his first few miles.

He then picked it up again for the final 5k, putting in a 6:29 for his 11th mile and 6:24 for his 13th mile before rounding the race off strongly. With a finishing time of 1:26:54, Paddy came 142nd overall and was 79th scorer in for the league.

He also won the battle of the McCalisters, with Trevor McAlister of Ryde Harriers coming in just one place after him in 143rd place recording a time of 1:27:08. That put him just ahead of Rich’s brother Dave now runs for Welsh club Griffithstown Harriers. He clocked a time of 1:27:16 which put him in 147th place.

He actually thought he’d got a PB in the bag but the course came up slightly long, at around 13.17 miles. That may have just scuppered his chances as he ended up missing out by four seconds.

Dave had been having a good little battle with Simon Hearn throughout the race and in the end it was Dave who came out on top, with Simon getting to the line in 1:27:29. That put him in 156th place overall and 12th in the V50 bracket. He was 83rd scorer in the league.

It was a tremendous run from Simon and much better than his Bath Half performance the previous month. He would’ve also been in with a chance of a PB had it not been for the 8th and 9th mile, where he slowed quite significantly. It was those two miles that killed the times for a lot of runners.

Instead of racing it, Craig Palmer was actually running it with a friend who was Sam Pretty of Fairland Valley Spartans. Originally she was going to go for a 1:28 time which would have gained her qualification for the London Marathon.

A little while into the race she abandoned that plan though and decided she wasn’t feeling strong enough. Craig decided to go off on his own for a little while as he was approaching the third mile and began to motor a bit for the next four miles, going at around 5:40 to 5:45 sort of pace.

He almost caught Rich up before going back to run with Sam for the remainder of the race. They crossed the line in 1:35:03 which put Craig in 307th position overall and he was 160th scorer for the league.

Completing the B-string scoring team for Bournemouth AC, it was Patrick Kingston. He’d run a pretty evenly paced race at around 7:15 minute mile pace for the first 7 miles before slowing a bit again on the 8th and 9th miles. He then picked it back up again well for the last four miles, getting back to 7:15 pace or slightly faster for the last 5k, ending with a 6:58 split.

Crossing the line in 1:35:04, Patrick came in 310th place overall and was 162nd scorer in the league. In total, 1,214 runners successfully completed the course, with 371 men scoring in the league and 193 women.

Just as they were in the Hayling 10 and the Solent Half, Winchester & District were the top men’s scoring team. They had 3rd, 7th, 11th and 13th scorers in their A-team. That put them ahead of Ryde Harriers who had 1st, 4th, 5th and 55th scorers.

Bournemouth AC were the 3rd best men’s scoring team in the league, with 2nd, 9th, 27th and 47th, but considering the top three clubs were all in different divisions, they all essentially came out on top of their respective tables. That meant Bournemouth AC had won three out of the four fixtures so far in the men’s 3rd division and promotion was very much looking on the cards.

Winchester were also the top scoring ladies team as well but only just, finishing four points ahead of Ryde Harriers, although again, Winchester are in the 1st division and Ryde are in the 2nd so they weren’t really competing against each other as such.

Romsey were the top scoring ladies team in the 3rd division, which is the one Bournemouth AC are in, but Pompey Joggers are still top of the table in that division after they finished 3rd.

Winchester’s men’s B-team actually had a better scoring total than Bournemouth AC’s A-team, although only by one point. They were the top scoring B-team. Then their C-Team were 2nd best scorers, outlining the tremendous strength in depth they have.

In the 2nd division for the men’s B-teams, which Bournemouth AC are in, Ryde Harriers were the top scoring team, with Lordshill in 2nd. Bournemouth AC finished 3rd, putting them in 6th place for the season so far out of 21 teams.

The next Hampshire Road Race League fixture was the Victory 5, which was known to be very fast five mile race. Unfortunately it was on the same weekend as the Bournemouth AC’s home fixture in the Hampshire Cross Country League, so that meant it was going to prove difficult to get a team together.

Only Tag and Trev Elkins were down for it in the end, along with Nikki Whittaker for the ladies, so it was set to be another non-scoring affair for Bournemouth AC. It would still be interesting to see how the Bournemouth AC trio performed though and whether they could each challenge their best five mile times.