With a route starting at Moors Valley Country Park and finishing at Hengistbury Head, on the right day, the Run to the Sea 50k can be very doable. The course follows the Castleman Trailway to Oakley, through Broadstone and then onto Upton. It then goes round Holes Bay and over to Poole before working its way to Sandbanks. Once a Sandbanks, it’s all the way along the prom, past Bournemouth, Boscombe and Southbourne and over to Hengistbury Head where the finish inflatable awaits.

It usually means that for the last seven miles, there will be a nice tailwind to help blow the runners toward the finish. On the day of the race, a storm had blown in though and the conditions were blustery. Fortunately, it was a westerly wind, so although it was rather strong and forceful, that would likely be more of a help to the athletes than a hindrance.

One of the Bournemouth AC members tackling the 50km course was Helen Beddoe. Her running had come on leaps and bounds since joining Bournemouth AC and she’d seen her times improve quite dramatically over the course of the year.

Back in February, Helen did the Lytchett 10 in 1 hour 18 minutes and the Bournemouth Bay Run 10k in 49:40. Over the summer she ran all six of the Upton Summer Series races and improved her time on the 6k trail route from 26:19 to 24:28, running each one progressively faster.

She then went on to clock a 10k PB of 43:29 at the Totton 10k and register a PB of 21:06 at the Boscombe Seafront 5k. Of course, a 50k was a very different prospect altogether but she was clearly in the fittest and fastest state she’d ever been in so what better time than now to give it a go.

Also in action at Run to the Sea was Beth Dowbiggin. She came over to the club from Zoom Tri and like many of their athletes, was looking to improve the running part of her game. As a consequence, she’d been attending all the Tuesday night track or field sessions where the interval based structure had helped her sharpen her speed.

She had the Bournemouth Sprint Triathlon three weeks before Run to the Sea so her main focus had been on that. That was an opportunity to qualify for the European Triathlon Championships in Spain next summer, so if she did well, there was a chance to represent Team GB in her age group race.

The Bournemouth Sprint Triathlon consisted of a 750m sea swim, a 20km cycle from West Cliff to Ringwood and back and a 5k run along the promenade before finishing on the beach. Beth completed it in 1 hour 17 minutes and came first in her age group, meaning she’d qualified for the Euros.

The only drawback was that she didn’t have a lot of time to train for the ultra after that she hadn’t really done in really long runs yet in preparation. Rectifying that the weekend after though, she went to Moors Valley and ran a section of the course down to Upton. That came to 18.64 miles and she managed it at 8:35 average pace with no issues.

Another one of the club’s newer members, Clint Taylor was also in action at Run to the Sea and he was running it with a friend. Making his debut for the club at the Boscombe Seafront 5k, Clint had finished in 21:11 in that race. Then the weekend before Run to the Sea, he’d secured a 10k PB of 43:58.

It was quite an early start on the day of the Run to the Sea, with the athletes setting off at around 7:30am. Knowing she was comfortable running at 8:30 to 8:45 sort of pace for a long distance, Beth began her journey, along with two of her friends.

They suffered an early blow just before the six mile point when one of her friends was sick. He’d committed the cardinal sin of not trying out the energy gels he was intending to use beforehand, and they hadn’t gone down too well.

The stoppage cost them about 10 minutes but they then got back on their way. They soon got back into their rhythm and set about ticking off the miles. There were a couple of hills to tackle on the way to Upton but nothing that slowed them down too much.

They were under 9 minute mile pace until the 18th mile when they went slightly over. Then on the 21st mile they stopped for a about a minute. Then they got back going again before stopping for a couple of minutes on the 26th mile.

That left just five miles to go. From that point on they started picking up the pace and were getting closer to 8:30 sort of pace. They somehow found the strength to run the last mile mile in 7:34 which was their fastest split in the whole race.

That put Beth‘s finishing time at 4 hours 43 minutes and 14 seconds. That put her in 62nd place overall and she was 12th female. It was a really solid ultramarathon debut from Beth, particularly as she’d never done anything like that before and had never even run a marathon!

If she hadn’t had to stop when her friend was sick as well, she would have probably been 8th female so had the ability to finish even higher. The fact that she didn’t really find it a struggle has made her believe she could do more ultramarathons and perhaps even go further than 50k.

Also handling the step up in distance rather well, Helen Beddoe completed the course in 5 hours 9 minutes and 37 seconds which put her in 151st place overall and made her 45th female. She was also 16th in the WV40 category. It was a brilliant effort from Helen and definitely one she will look back on with pride.

Clint was running with Zoe Meaton and they set off at about 10 minute mile pace. Quite a bit of the first few miles or so is on a downhill trajectory though. After the first four miles, most of their splits were around 10:30 sort of pace, or between 10 and 11 minute mile pace.

They had a little stoppage on the 23rd mile, just before reaching the prom. From then on, they finished really strongly at around 10 minute mile pace all the way through to the last mile, when they had to head up the ramp and then through the soft sand section at Hengistbury Head.

It’s actually quite a tough finish when energy levels are low but when they finish line is in sight, it’s generally possibly to find that little bit of extra resolve to get there.

Finishing in a time of 5 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds, Clint had finished 317th overall and was 66th in the MV40 category. Zoe was 108th female and 36th in the WV40 category.

It had been a hell of a journey but they’d made it and they’d caught up Nuala Evans who had run with them for the last 10k as well which had helped get them through. Run to the Sea does have that sort of spirit about where, rather than seeing the other participants as an opponent, they almost become like teammates, trying to encourage each other on.

A total of 577 successfully completed the course, with nine runners starting it but not making it to the end. Bournemouth AC legend Ant Clark ran almost 20 miles of it a friend of his. The guy he was running with, Matthew Ironside, when on the finish 29th in a time of 4:28:52.

It was the man who topped the standings in the Hampshire Road Race League individual table, Brandon Cuell, of Fareham Running Club, who won the race. He clocked a time of 3 hours 35 minutes and 36 seconds.

That was tremendous effort from him but it wasn’t as quick as Harry Smith’s time from 2020 when he ran it in 3:25:48. That is still the course record and that was set back when Harry first came to Bournemouth.

Sam Foster of Verwood Runners was second in 3:49:31, with Nick Onslow of Basingstoke & Mid Hants taking third in 3:53:07. Nick is an MV50 so he was also first vet. Tom Stubbs who has trained with Bournemouth AC before finished 14th in 4:15:52.

Vicky Rutter of Littledown Harriers was first female and 21st overall in 4:22:59. Julia Donovan of Wimbledon Windmillers was second female in 4:24:40. Katie Ellard was third female in 4:25:37.

Former Bournemouth AC runner Heather Khoshnevis did it as well and she came 74th in a time of 4:47:08 and was first WV60 and 14th female.

For the Bournemouth AC trio who completed the race, it was time to sit back, relax and reflect on what an amazing feat they had achieved by completing the distance. They didn’t rest for too long though and Beth and Clint were both back in training on Tuesday night. The both seemed to have recovered pretty well and Helen was back the week after. That showed how keen they are and how much they enjoy their club training sessions.