Always a good opportunity to record a fast 10k time, the Eastleigh 10k tends to be quite a popular attraction for Bournemouth AC runners when it comes around. The flattish nature of the course and the high standard of competition mean that it often brings the best out of the athletes involved. One man who always looks to record a personal best when he takes to the start line of the Eastleigh 10k is Adam Corbin.

Ever since his 33:49 time at Eastleigh in 2021, Adam had been trying to beat that target in every 10k race he’d done. Frustratingly though, every time he’d fallen short, including at Eastleigh last year when he was disappointed to record a 34:16. Earlier in the year he’d just missed out on a new PB at the Stubbington 10k when he finished in 33:51, so incredibly just two seconds down on it.

At this year’s Stubbington 10k though he finally got the monkey off his back and nailed a new benchmark of 33:34. The only problem was now he had an even tougher target to aim for if he wanted to beat that again. He had been in good form this year though, finishing first in parkrun three times including once at Poole when he notched a 16:30.

Deep in the throws of his London Marathon training, Barry Dolman had done 12-and-a-half miles before starting the race. He did the same in 2023 though and still ended up putting in a strong progressive performance to finish in 37:42.

Barry had certainly been racking up the mileage during his marathon training and had done a double loop of the Lytchett 10 in February, going round the course once before starting the actual race itself. He then went on the complete the race in 1:02:38.

Barry’s son Harry was also running and he was certainly capable of a quick time, In fact, he’d ran a 37:24 at Round the Lakes on Boxing Day 2022 and that was his fastest 10k yet. He hadn’t been doing much running at all of late though so he wasn’t likely to be anywhere near that.

Also in training for the London Marathon, Katie Gunn took a break from the longer runs to go for something a little shorter and sharper. She did really well in last year’s Eastleigh 10k race, recording a PB of 37:10 which showed she has the capacity to go quick over that distance.

Running extremely well in training of late, Jack Barwick had managed to overcome his fear of crossing the finish line at the Lytchett 10, successfully completing the race which was a big step forward. That had made him much more confident about competing in other races and the Eastleigh 10k would be the first one he’d done since Lytchett.

After missing out on a PB in the Wokingham Half Marathon, Jason Christian was in the hunt again at Eastleigh. His best 10k time was 38:06 which he did at the Christmas 10k in 2023. He ran the Stubbington 10k at the beginning of year in 38:45.

Also in the line up for Bournemouth AC, Stuart Bowers registered a brilliant time of 36:41 in last year’s Eastleigh 10k so he had the potential to go very well when on form.

Setting his stall out with a really quick opening mile, Adam Corbin registered a 5:18. He then followed that up with a 5:33 for his second mile. The third mile contains a hill which you go up but then come back down after. That set Adam back to 5:39. He got back on pace well with a 5:27 for his fourth mile.

He perhaps wasn’t quite strong enough to close it out with the speed he would have liked but still ran the last couple of miles at 5:40 pace. The result was a finishing time of 34:32 which put him in 31st place overall. That was a close to a minute off his Stubbington time from January and he didn’t really enjoy the race so much this time around. If nothing else though, it was still good training and he still came way with an impressive average pace of 5:34.

Managing to replicate what he did in 2023, Barry Dolman registered another negative split, meaning he went quicker in the second half than in the first. And it was a very strong, progressively paced effort as well.

In the first half of the race he was around 6 to 6:10 minute mile pace. He then upped it to 5:50, then 5:48 and then finally 5:43. That lead to finishing time of 37:01 which was only 7 seconds off of a PB for Barry. It was in fact his second fastest 10k time ever.

That was enough to put him in 92nd place overall and 4th in the Vet Male 55 to 59 category. With an average pace of 5:56, it was an impressively strong run from Barry.

Clocking a time of 37:47, Stuart Bowers was around a minute off what he managed last year. He’d finished in 108th place overall and was 8th in the Vet Male 45 to 49 category.

Putting in what was probably one of the more evenly paced efforts out of the Bournemouth AC contingent, Katie Gunn went through most of her mile splits in between 6 and 6:10 per mile, aside from the fifth which was 6:15. That gave her a finishing time of 38:02 which saw her come in as 7th placed female out of 1,033.

In the overall standings, she was placed 115th and she was 2nd in the Senior Female category. Her average pace was 6:06 and since she’d only really been training for long distance races, that was a decent effort from Katie.

Finishing not too far behind Katie, Jack Barwick crossed the line 18 seconds later to record a time of 38:20. That put him in 125th place overall. It wasn’t perhaps paced as well as it could have been, as Jack started off fast, with a 5:45 for his first mile split. Then he gradually faded a bit and slowed down as the race progressed, finishing with a 6:33 for his sixth mile.

Not having much experience of racing though, it’s difficult for Jack to know what sort of pace he should set off at and that’s something you learn as you do more races. The raw talent is there though and there will no doubt be quicker times to come from Jack.

Making a strong start of his own, Jason Christian went through the first couple of miles in 6:04 and 6:08. Then he encountered the hill on the third mile which he went through in 6:23. He then got back to 6:11 pace for his fourth mile before closing it out with a 6:18 and 6:19.

That resulted in a time of 38:44 which was almost exactly the same time he did the Stubbington 10k in in January. In fact it was one second faster. His average pace for the run was 6:13 and he came 140th overall.

Getting round in a time of 41:37, Harry Dolman finished 263rd overall and that wasn’t a bad performance considering he hasn’t been doing much running lately.

James Copeland of South West Vets won the race in a time of 30:41. That was enough to give him a six second gap over Aiden Lennan of Southampton AC who was runner up. Daniel Studley of Bristol & West AC was third in 31:01 and Peter Hart of Southampton claimed fourth in 31:22.

Sam Tyas of Belgrave Harriers was fifth in 31:30 and Jacob O’Hara made it three Southampton men in the top six when he arrived in 31:53. Winchester & District man Andrew Greenleaf came seventh in 32:08.

Southampton also had the first female, with Sarah Winstone crossing the line in 35:12. That was enough to put her in 44th place in the overall standings. Erin Willmers of Winchester Running Club was second placed female in a time of 36:33. She came 75th overall.

Rebecca Sleap of Basingstoke was third female in 36:56 and she came 85th in the overall standings. Kay Sheedy of Dulwich Runners was 4th female in a chip time of 36:59 and Naomi Harris of Reading was the next person over the line in a chip time of 37:03. They came 89th and 90th overall.

A total of 2,486 runners were competing in the race that day. It was a good a good showing from the Bournemouth AC contingent on the whole and they can all be proud with the performances they put in and the positions they finished in in what is always a very high standard field.