It was a race that threatened to derail Bournemouth AC‘s A2 division title bid last season when their fourth man dropped out leaving them with only three finishers. Of course they went on to win the division anyway but that disaster at the Gosport Half Marathon almost cost them. This time there were six men in action at the Gosport Half Marathon and conditions were much better than in the previous year. It wasn’t a massively windy day at least anyway.

The club had won two of the three races in a A1 division so were in a good position but didn’t field a team for the other one so they had to be careful. The best nine of twelve races count when that stats are totted up at the end of the season.

Ben Collins‘ performances had dropped off a touch since his amazing 2:42 London Marathon in April. He was still hopeful that he might be able to nab a half marathon PB, with his previous best being just under 1 hour 16 minutes.

Patrick Kingston, David Pinney, Chris O’Brien, Sanjai Sharma and Matthew Nabney were also featuring for the yellow and blues so they had safety in numbers. A fixture clash with the Wimborne 10 had meant that most the club’s top runners couldn’t do the Gosport Half as the team needed to win at Wimborne to set themselves for the Dorset Road Race League second division title.

Solent Half Marathon winner Max Costley of Southampton AC was also in the line up for the Gosport Half Marathon, as was Fred Slemeck of Hercules Wimbledon and Christopher Newnham of Ryde Harriers.

Fred won the Alresford 10k in June and also finished 35th out of the masses at the London Marathon in a time of 1:08:46. Christopher finished 5th at the Chippenham Half Marathon and then went on to place 3rd in the Run Bournemouth Half Marathon in 1:10:46.

Starting off with a super quick 5:38 for his first mile, Ben Collins then followed it up with a 5:54 before posting then around six minutes per mile for his next three splits. A 6:08 for his sixth mile took him to 10k in just under 37 minutes.

The course for the Gosport Half Marathon is two laps with one part on a road that is slightly inland and then a stretch along the promenade to follow. A 6:15 was then followed with a 6;46 and Ben was finding it tough to match his earlier pace.

Registering a 6:12 for his tenth mile, Ben had made it to 10 miles in 1:00:48. He then went to manage a 6:08 for his 11th mile, followed by a 6:05 and then a 5:54 for his last full mile. That took him to the finish line in 1:19:45.

It wasn’t the time that Ben was looking for and left him four minutes short of his PB. He was disappointed with that performance and put it down to doing high mileage for too many weeks leaving overtrained him with heavy legs.

That put him in 45th place out of 1,377 which was still not a bad result in the grand scheme of things, although obviously well short of what he’s capable of at his best.

Patrick Kingston was going at around 6:35 pace for his first four miles. Then he upped it to 6:30 for his next two before managing a 6:26 for his seventh mile. He then went through his next couple of miles at around 6:40 pace before registering a 6:37 for his tenth mile.

The last three miles of the race tend to be quick and Patrick had enough left in the tank for a final push. That saw him register his fastest three miles of the race in 6:29, 6:21 and 6:08.

Coming away with a time of 1:25:45, Patrick had had a brilliant run and it showed how much stronger he was getting. His overall finishing position was 120th and he was 18th out of 120 in the V45 category.

David Pinney started off at around 6:25 pace and kept it very consistent for his first seven miles. The eighth, ninth and tenth miles tend to be where it gets tough though and David got through those in 6:42, 6:51 and 6:42. Ending with a 6:38, a 6:41 and a 6:31 for his last three miles, David had recorded an impressive time of 1:26:11 which put him 128th overall.

Chris O’Brien was clocking around 6:35 pace for his first five miles and then 6:40 for his next two. Then for the three toughest miles of the race he managed a 6:46, a 6:54 and then a 6:46.

Finishing with a 6:35, a 6:41 and then a 6:32 for his last three miles, Chris got over the line in 1:27:46 which put him in 149th place. He was 14th in the V50 category and the way he’d managed to maintain his pace throughout was testament to how strong he was feeling. It was a fantastic performance from Chris and he’d ended up running a minute faster than he was expecting.

That was only enough to put the Bournemouth AC scoring team of four in 7th place in the Men’s A1 division. Ryde Harriers got the lowest score of the A1 teams, followed by current table toppers Lordshill. Alton Runners were 3rd and Denmead Striders 4th, with Farenham taking 5th.

Sanjai Sharma had had a bad run at the Chippenham Half Marathon, finishing in 1:46:26. Then bizarrely, three weeks later at the Kingston Half Marathon he had a brilliant race, finishing in 1:31:43.

At the Gosport Half Marathon, Sanjai had another good run to record a finishing time of 1:31:57, putting him in 230th place and 6th in the V60 category. Getting round in a time of 1:32:32, Matthew Nabney was the final Bournemouth AC man home. He was placed 239th overall.

The race was won by Will Grace in a time of 1:08:02, putting him 45 seconds ahead of Fred Slemeck who was runner up. Barney Reed was 3rd in 1 hour 9 minutes and Aiden Lennon of Southampton AC took 4th in 1:09:55.

James Copeland of Southern Counties Veterans was 5th in 1:10:02 with Andrew Thomas of Southampton sealing 5th in 1:10:30. Christopher Newnham was 7th in 1:11:08 and Andrew Winterbottom of Winchester & District came 8th in 1:11:12.

Max Costley was 12th in 1:11:58 and Emlyn Hughes completed their scoring team in 1:17:59 which put him 30th overall. That gave Southampton the lowest score of any team in the league so they topped the standings in the A2 division ahead of Winchester Running Club.

In the Men’s A3 division, Vectis Academy got the best score, with table toppers Hardley Runners taking 2nd and Romsey Road Runners 3rd.

Jen Granger was 1st female in 1:20:12 which put her 49th overall. Bethany Howarth of Ryde Harriers was 2nd female in 1:21:01. Rosie Reed was 3rd female in 1:21:42 which put her 68th overall.

Denmead Striders were the lowest scoring team which saw them top the standings in the Women’s A1 division for the Gosport Half, with Lordshill taking 2nd. Fareham Running Club still topped the standings for the season so far though.

Winchester Running Club were the lowest scorers in the A2 division, as they have been for all the races so far this season. New Forest Runners were 2nd and Stubbington Green 3rd.

Like they did in the Men’s, Vectis Academy were the lowest scorers in the Women’s A3 divsion, with Hamwic Harriers 2nd and Victory AC 3rd. Victory AC are top of the table for the season so far.

Winchester Running Club topped the standings in the Men’s B1 division with Denmead Striders 2nd and that’s how they were positioned for the season so far as well.

Ryde Harriers secured the lowest score out of the B2 division teams with Stubbington Green in 2nd. Hardley Runners finished 3rd but top the table for the season so far.

Winchester Running Club also got the win in the Men’s C division and they top the table for the season so fare with three wins out of four.

Hedge End got the best score in the Women’s B1 division, with Fareham in 2nd but Fareham topped the standings for the season so far.

Winchester Running Club got their third win of the season in the Women’s B2 division with Overton Harriers taking 2nd they were now Winchester’s closest challengers in the division table.

Hedge End got the win in the Women’s C division, with Stubbington Green 2nd. City of Salisbury’s 3rd place was enough to take them to the top of the table for the season so far.

The next race of the Hampshire League season would see the Bournemouth AC squad head over to Portsmouth for the Victory 5. Despite winning two of their four races, the yellow and blues were down in 6th place in the Men’s A1 division so they could do with another win at the Victory 5.

A talented line up had been assembled though, with Abdinasir Mohamoud Elhmi, Joe Arundel and Rob McTaggart featuring. James Hulbert was a man in form as well and Mike Akers and Barry Dolman were also running well so the prospects looked good for the BAC men.

The entry list was formidable though, with former BAC member Harry Smith returning to action. After finishing 2nd to Abdi at the Wimborne 10, Jonathan Cornish was back to try to exact revenge and Matt Sharp of Ryde Harriers was also competing. Jaymee Domoney was another star name in the mix and it promised to be an epic showdown for the ages.