Day two of the Run Bournemouth event featured the Supersonic 10k and the Half Marathon races presenting the more senior members of the Bournemouth AC squad with a chance to race on very familiar ground, or familiar to most of them at least anyway.
The courses had changed for 2022 though and were starting from Hengistbury Head, taking the participants on a point to point journey which ultimately ended up at Bournemouth Pier for the grandstand finish.
Last year’s event proved fruitful for Bournemouth AC members with Szymon Chojnacki winning the Supersonic 10k and Rob McTaggart taking 3rd in the Half Marathon after an epic battle between Poole AC man Dom Willmore and Scott Cousins of Springfield Striders for the race win. Dom Willmore eventually came out on top but he had to produce an incredible 1:07:30 time to edge it by 10 seconds.
In the line up for the 2022 Supersonic 10k were six Bournemouth AC representatives including Trev Elkins, Simon Hearn and Ella Preston. They were joined by up and coming youngsters Samuel Brewer, Nathan Mearns and Mariah Marshall, all of whom have recently made the step up to senior level.
The Half Marathon race featured a few other well revered Bournemouth AC names including Sam Jackson and Robin Copestick. There were also a couple of perhaps slightly less familiar names in the shape of Caleb Buys and Ken Parradine.
Trev was going into the Supersonic 10k off the back of a bout of covid which had put him out of action for a while and then seemed to have impacted his body somewhat in the aftermath. As a result, he wasn’t really sure how it was going to go but he wasn’t expecting to be anywhere near his best form.
It was the week before his target race of the Bath Half Marathon for Simon Hearn so he was going into it in pretty good shape after a decent block of training. He was hoping he might be able to threaten his PB of 1:27:12 at the Bath Half but it would all be dependent on how it felt on the day.
The Run Bournemouth 10k was more just for fun and to suffice as a little sharpener and hopefully a confidence booster ahead of his big race the following weekend.
Samuel Brewer certainly has some speed in his locker but he’s more of a track runner than a roadie, specialising in 800m and 400m. The 10k was certainly going to be a step up in distance for him so it would be interesting to see how he fared.
When they got to Boscombe Pier it was Trev who was leading the way from a Bournemouth AC perspective, with Samuel hot on his heels. Simon Hearn then arrived after that before Nathan Mearns emerged a few minutes later.
It was only 3k left to go once they’d hit Boscombe Pier so it just required one more push along the prom towards Bournemouth Pier. Considering he hasn’t done many long distance races, Samuel finished the race quite strongly, taking 20th place in a time of 39:37.
Just over a minute later Trev appeared, crossing the line in 40:42, with Simon Hearn coming in a second later. As it transpired though, Simon had actually finished ahead of Trev on chip time, registering a 40:39 which put him three seconds in front. That meant it was 31st place for Simon and 32nd for Trev.
Simon was 5th in the 50M category and Trev took 4th in the 40M division. Trev had run to feel, only checking his watch at 8k, at which point he was hoping to see 28 to 29 minutes. Instead it was more like 31 to 32 minutes.
It certainly wasn’t a vintage performance from his perspective, but had he not had covid beforehand it could have been a very different story. If in top form, he probably would have been looking at 37, maybe even 36 minutes. The wind did also have an impact as well, making it tough over the last few kilometres.
Getting to the line in 44:42, Nathan Mearns finished up in 82nd place, which he was reasonably pleased with.
He wasn’t quite able to maintain the pace he went at for the first couple of miles though for the remainder of the race so he may need to temper his early pace slightly to achieve his optimum time. That will come us he gains more experience though.
The next BAC member to arrive was Ella Preston, clocking a time of 50:19. It was about a minute off her PB so not a bad run out from her perspective, especially considering the headwind on the prom. Ella finished 189th overall and 10th in the Under 35 Female category.
Completing the course in a time of 52:10, Mariah Marshall came 243rd in the overall standings. That was good enough to put her 15th in the U35F category.
Tom Merson of Exmouth Harriers was the winner of the Supersonic 10k, completing the course in a lightening quick time of 31:32. That put him a minute-and-a-half ahead of his nearest rival who was Quinn Miell-Ingram of Radley AC. He got over line in 33:03, with Ben Lloyd taking 3rd in 34:07.
Ryan Pegoraro who has recently signed up to the club on a second claim basis finishing 9th in a superb time of 35:12.
Charlie Arnell was first female and came 10th overall with a tremendous time of 36:04 and Emily Hilliar of Poole AC was 2nd lady, getting round in 38:54.
The Half Marathon route went from Hengistbury Head, all the way up Southbourne Coast Road and onto the Overcliff before turning and heading towards Hengistbury Head and dropping down onto the prom. Then it was along to Boscombe Pier before coming off and heading up through Boscombe Gardens and onto the Overcliff towards Bournemouth.
Sam Jackson was the leading Bournemouth AC runner and he was looking pretty strong in the early stages of the race as they took the first turn on the Overcliff. He was in the top ten at that stage. Robin Copestick was going well as well and wasn’t too far behind.
It was when they went up Boscombe Chine Gardens onto the other side of the Overcliff that things were about to go horribly wrong for Sam. When the runners got to the top of the Overcliff, they were supposed to then turn left and do a loop round before coming back on themselves and continuing along the Overcliff towards Bournemouth.
Sam was in a zone though and was just following the guy in front. Instead of turning round the loop and heading back along the Overcliff towards Bournemouth though, he had carried on and had ended up at the stairs that led down onto the promenade.
As he was going down the stairs it began to dawn on Sam that he must have gone the wrong way. There was no way they would put steps in the middle of a half marathon. There were a group of runners who had done the same thing and they about the run down Boscombe Pier. At this point Sam decided to stop. His race had already been ruined.
It was a devastating and impromptu end to a race that had been going quite well for Sam and it was the second consecutive race where he’d ended up going to wrong way after the Hoburne 5 debacle. As you would expect, he was pretty annoyed about the situation.
Just as he was at the Hoburne 5, Robin Copestick had been behind the group that went the wrong way, so was okay. He was actually having a really good run and his pacing was pretty much spot on.
He had enough experience to know what he was capable of at this point in time over a half marathon distance and to execute it well. Recording a time of 1:23:11, Robin finished in 10th place and was 1st in the 40M category.
Robin was one of Bournemouth AC’s top runners back in the early 2000’s and registered a 2:30:58 marathon in 2006. He was out injured for a few years after that before making a comeback. Since 2015 he hasn’t been quite as quick though but still works really hard in training so it was good to see him get some reward for his efforts.
Caleb Buys was the next Bournemouth AC man in and he was wearing a backpack with a South African flag coming out of it. Completing the course in 1:46:46, he took 428th place overall.
Finishing 9th in the Male 70 category, Ken Parradine completed the course in 2 hours 32 minutes and 58 seconds, which put him in 2,110th position. It was certainly a much better run than in he had last year in the Run Bournemouth Half Marathon when he got struck by a painful glute injury just two miles in.
That made the rest of the race a real slog for Ken as he had to keep stopping to walk and he ended up finishing in 2:55:40. There were not such problems this time for Ken though and he ran well and got round much more smoothly.
Max Carroll, who had been training with the club quite a lot recently, was also competing and he completed the course in 2:27:57 which put him in 1,994th place and 217th in the 35M category.
Max has come a long way since he started attending the BAC sessions and his enthusiasm for running is great to see. He certainly looked like he was enjoying himself in the Half Marathon anyway and came away from it with a performance to be proud of.
Leon Louis, who has also been training with the club recently, was also in action and he got round in an excellent time of 1:28:39 which put him in 52nd place overall and 9th in the 35M category.
The man who was victorious in the Overton 5 recently, Jaymee Domoney of City of Salisbury was the winner of the Half Marathon, racing to a lightening quick time of exactly 1 hour 8 minutes.
Alex Miell-Ingram of Radley AC, probably a relation of Quinn who came 2nd in the 10k, took the runner up spot in the Half Marathon. He recorded a time of 1:10:25, with fast local man Thomas Corbin taking 3rd in 1:13:10.
Timothy Kiplogat was 4th in 1:14:21, ahead of Sam Larkham of Tavistock AC who took 5th in 1:14:38. Then it was Charlie Williams of Egdon Heath Harriers in 6th, registering a time of 1:16:21.
Kate Drew of Taunton AC pencilled her name in at the top of the female standings, racing round in 1:22:42, which saw her take 8th position overall. Rosie Mew of South West Road Runners was 2nd lady in 1:24:33, which put her in 19th place, and Victoria Walls put down a solid 1:26:12 to come in 3rd woman and 29th overall.
You never quite know what the Run Bournemouth event is going to throw up but one thing it always does is bring together so many runners of different abilities, creeds and cultures. For this particular weekend though, they’re all united in one aspect and that is that they are going to run. That can only be a good thing and Bournemouth is certainly a wonderful place to stage such an inclusive event.