Traditionally a race that Bournemouth AC have a lot of success in, the yellow and blue army always look forward to the day the Lytchett 10 comes around. Rob Spencer won it last year and the BAC squad easily topped the standings in the Second Division. The year before that it was a Bournemouth AC one-two-three, with Harry Smith just edging it over Jacek Cieluszecki and Rob McTaggart taking 3rd.

Not always being treated as a standalone 10 mile race by the top Dorset runners though, it’s often seen as an opportunity for a longer training run, with some even daring to do the dreaded double loop. It can then in turn become a very good marathon training run.

Adding some extra miles before the race and then some on afterwards as well, Rob McTaggart was one of those looking to make it up to a 20 miler. He’d been in excellent form, winning the first race of the Dorset League season, the Broadstone Quarter Marathon. He then went on to run a 31:39 at the Stubbington 10k which was very close to PB performance level. He’d even been putting in some additional hill training to give himself a better chance of contending for the race win.

Looking to run the entire loop before the race started, Barry Dolman was going for the double. He’s also training for London so it would likely serve a good strength building exercise for him.

Josh Cole was back in the mix as well and had finally gotten over the illness that caused him to struggle to find his usual speed at the Broadstone Quarter.

Stu Nicholas was also in the side as well. He ran his second fastest 10k ever at the Stubbington 10k despite suffering from the dreaded lurgy in the week leading up to it. He also won the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon just before Christmas in 2:41:59.

There was also finally an official race debut for Jack Barwick as well. Jack has been training with the club for quite some time now and has exhibited some tremendous pace on the Tuesday and Thursday sessions. He was still yet to pull on the yellow and blue vest though and line for a competitive race.

The main reason for that was that Jack suffers from a sort of phobia of going over the finish line. So much so that he has struggled to do it in parkruns in the past and has neglected to go over the line despite having completed the whole course.

It all stemmed from when he was sick the first time he tried to cross the line in a parkrun many years ago. That experience had haunted him ever since and the fear that it would happen again was always at the back of his mind.

Over recent months he’d been working on it though and had managed to pluck up the courage to start finishing off his parkruns. That was a huge step forward for Jack and had made him start contemplating doing it in a race. Since he lives in the area, the Lytchett 10 seemed like the perfect one to choose to break his duck.

One of Bournemouth AC’s fastest females, Katie Gunn, had also signed up for the race but she was unable to find anyone to cover her shift at work so was ruled out. With only Victoria Chapman and Helen Beddoe in the squad, the Bournemouth AC ladies were again set to go without a scoring team, as they did at Broadstone.

Men’s champions Poole AC were hungry for it again and after being narrowly edged out by Egdon Heath Harriers at the Broadstone Quarter, they were keen to redress the balance. They had Jamie Grose who finished 3rd in last year’s Lytchett 10, plus Thomas Corbin, Benjamin Gibbons and Fred Harris.

Egdon Heath Harriers had Men’s Individual champion Christopher Peck, who finished 2nd to Rob Spencer in last year’s race and was 3rd at Broadstone. They also had Charlie Williams who came 4th at Broadstone and Jonathan Churchill who was 9th at Broadstone. It had all the makings of a classic race in the Men’s First Division.

Ladies Individual champion Vicki Ingham was there again after starting the season off the a win at the Broadstone Quarter. She was the course record holder for the Lytchett 10, getting round in 1:00:01 in 2023.

Poole Runners won the ladies league title quite convincingly last year and they’d made a winning start at the Broadstone Quarter. Egdon Heath Harriers were hoping to challenge them though at Lytchett and they had a pretty good side which included Nat Lawrence, Hannah Martyn and Teresa Green.

On the day of the race the conditions were cold. Extremely cold in fact. So much so that some sections of the roads were a bit icy which made it a bit tricky to hit top speed.

When the race started off a lead group formed quite quickly, containing all the big hitters from Poole AC and Egdon Heath Harriers. Rob McTaggart was there as well, after running six miles before the race began. Josh Cole was in that group as well, as was Poole Runners man Lewis Clarke who nearly won the race in 2022, only to be caught in the end by Jez Bragg.

The race starts off with a short incline which then leads to a downhill stretch. After that it’s onto a climb that went on for the bulk of the next two miles. Tag was going at about 5:40 pace up the hill before reaching the top and heading back down again on the fourth mile.

Then it was back uphill again for half of the fifth mile before a long downhill stretch. Tag really accelerated on that one, clocking a 5:04 for his sixth mile. After that there was one last big climb to tackle on the seventh mile. That was perhaps the steepest and toughest of the hills as well.

Getting up that in just over six minute mile pace, Tag was in 5th place. There was just on small undulation to go before a very long descent that leads near to the finish. Tag then really let fly on the way down and was going at sub 5 minute mile pace. That saw him claw his way up to 2nd.

Poole AC man Fred Harris was out in front on his own though and had enough of a lead to make it stick in the end. He went over the line in 54:14 to seal a an impressive victory.

Tag ended up battling it out with Chris Peck for the runner up spot and Chris got it in the end, clocking a time of 54:23. Tag made it to the finish seven seconds later to take 3rd place in 54:30. He then went and carried on his run, ticking a further four miles off to make it to 20.

That was an improvement of five minutes on his time from last year when he’d ran the cross country race at Kings Park the day before. It was in fact his fastest ever Lytchett 10 time, beating his previous best by 1 minute 10 seconds. Overall he’d covered the 20 miles in just under 2 hours 4 minutes and his average pace for the whole activity was 6:10. That was with 1,135ft of elevation incorporated.

 

Considering he’d been struggling with various illnesses since November that had kept him out of action for a lot of that time, Jamie Grose had an excellent run to take 4th place in 54:38. That was a minute quicker than his time from last year and put his average pace at 5:27 minutes per mile.

Two more Poole AC runners arrived after that give them four men in the top six. Benjamin Gibbons was 5th in 54:58 and Tommy Corbin took 6th in 55:21. He was with the lead pack until the seventh mile but got dropped on the descent.

Charlie Williams found it a struggle but he still managed to record his fastest Lytchett 10 time to day, going over the line in 55:54 which put him in 7th place. Josh Cole was next man over the line and he’d had a really strong run to come away with a time of 56:40. That was over a minute quicker than the time he clocked in last year’s race.

Jonathan Churchill was Egdon Heath Harriers third man in and he registered a time of 56:45 which put him in 9th place. Lewis Clarke completed the top ten, completing the course in 57:53.

Making it round in 58:06, Adam Colbert sealed the First Division win for Poole AC, arriving in 12th place. Unattached runner Callum Wadlow finished 11th so he didn’t count as far as the league points went. It was a really strong team performance from Poole AC and they even had a surplus of high quality runners, with Luke Terry taking 13th in 56:08. He was 2nd M40 behind Chris Peck.

Struggling to find his rhythm, Stu Nicholas found the icy surfaces difficult to contend with at first. Making it to finish in 58:49, Stu came in in 16th place and had clocked an average pace of 5:53. He can usually gage how well he’s done on where he finishes in relation to Jez Bragg. They had a good ding dong for the 4th place in the Men’s Individual table last season with Stu taking it in the end.

This time Jez finished ahead of him though, going over the line in 14th place in 58:39. Rich White of Dorset Doddlers was 15th in a time of 58:48. Chris Wood was Twemlow Track Club’s second scorer in when he arrived in 17th place in 58:58.

Jack Galloway was Twemlow Track Club’s third man in when he crossed the line in 59:14 which put him in 21st place. Oliver Edwards was 4th scorer for Egdon Heath Harriers, getting round in 59:54. Then Corey Stone arrived just before the hour to seal a 2nd place finish in the Men’s First Division for Egdon Heath Harriers.

Poole Runners had Haydan Clarke finishing 29th, David Penwarden taking 30th and 1st M50, Tom Andrews taking 33rd and Dave Tindall in 34th. The problem was that they only had Lewis Clarke finishing really high up.

Harry Lauste was fifth scorer for Twemlow Track Club and he came 35th in 1:01:26. That was enough to give them third place in the First Division standings.

After his 10 mile warm up loop, Barry Dolman got round the official race loop in 1 hour 2 minutes and 38 seconds which put him in 44th place overall. It was also enough to see him take top spot in the 55 to 59 category.

That saw him get through the 20 miles in 2 hours 23 minutes and gave him an average pace of 7:11. That quantified as a very good training run for Barry. Julian Critchlow of Purbeck Runners was 1st over 60 across the line, recording a time of 1:02:13.

Unusually, it wasn’t Vicki Ingham who was 1st female on this occasion, it was Nat Lawrence of Egdon Heath Harriers. She made it round in 1:03:22 which put her in 48th place overall.

Vicki was 2nd female, crossing the line in 1:04:14 which put her in 56th place overall. Emma Mogridge of Dorset Doddlers was 3rd female in 1:04:50 which put her in 63rd place.

The fact he was fifth scorer for the Bournemouth AC men brought an added pressure for Jack Barwick. He knew he needed to get across that finishing line, not just for himself but for the team as well. He stepped up to the plate though and delivered a fine performance which saw him get to 9.8 miles in just under 1 hour 5 minutes.

At that point he slowed down to take stock of where he was, calmed his breathing down and braced himself for that final push to the line. Once he’d composed himself he made that final dash to the finish. As he went over the line, it was one small step for a man, but one giant leap for Jack Barwick. He’d done it and the relief was flowing through his veins like never before.

Registering a time of 1:05:57, Jack had come in in 70th place overall and in terms of league placings, he was 60th scorer. That was enough to seal 4th place in the Men’s First Division for Bournemouth AC. It was quite a moment and most certainly one to be proud of for Jack. His average pace for the run was 6:35 minutes per mile.

Victoria Chapman ran really well to claim the 4th female spot with her time of 1:07:23. She’d come 84th overall. Unattached runner Susanna Hill negotiated the slopes well to clock a time of 1:07:40 which made her 5th female and Dawn Andrews of Poole AC was 6th woman in in 1:08:35. She was just ahead of Bournemouth AC member Leon Louis on gun time but Leon came away with a faster chip time of exactly 1 hour 8 minutes.

Knowing that it was a very hilly course, Leon didn’t feel that it would suit him well and that he would get round in a fast time. Instead, he took it steady and paced his run pretty well, having the strength to crank it up a notch for those last two fast miles. He finished 97th overall and his average pace for the run was 6:46 minutes per mile.

Teresa Green was 7th female and second scorer for Egdon Heath Harriers in 1:08:34, with Hannah Martyn coming in as Egdon’s third scorer in 1:08:47. She was 8th female and 104th overall. Becky Neal was second scorer for Poole AC and 9th female in 1:08:52, with Jenny Marshall of Purbeck Runners completing the top ten women in 1:08:58.

Sophie Elford sealed the win in the Ladies First Division for Egdon Heath Harriers when she crossed the line in 1:12:04 which made her 15th female. She was 140th overall. Poole Runners were 2nd in the end, with Poole AC 3rd and Littledown Harriers 4th.

The next Bournemouth AC member over the line was Helen Beddoe. She clocked a time of 1:18:26 which made her 35th female and 211th overall. She was just ahead of Debbie Lennon who has now transferred to Littledown Harriers. She was 38th in 1:18:50 and 2nd to Tracey Harrold of Egdon Heath Harriers in the Female 60 to 64 category.

The final Bournemouth AC representative to arrive at the finish was Jud Kirk. He got to the line in 1:20:01 which put him 235th overall. That put him 5th in the 65 to 69 category.

Wimborne AC were the lowest scoring Men’s Second Division team, as they were at the Broadstone Quarter, with Littledown Harriers taking 2nd again and Dorset Doddlers in 3rd.

Dorchester RIOT were the lowest scoring of the Ladies Second Division teams, making it two wins out of two for them. Wimborne AC were 2nd, Dorset Doddlers 3rd and Purbeck Runners 4th.

Lytchett Manor Striders topped the standings in the Men’s Third Division again, as they did at the Broadstone Quarter. They also got the best score in the Women’s Third Division as well by one placing over Verwood Runners. Bournemouth Joggers and Royal Manor of Portland were 3rd and 4th with exactly the same points.

Not every runner can be in a position where they are contending to win the race outright. In truth, the vast majority of athletes will never be quick enough to win a race. But every runner can have their own wins. Whether that is topping the standings for their age category, or simply recording a personal best time for the distance being run. Or perhaps even setting a best time for that particular race if they’ve done it in previous editions.

On this occasion, for Jack Barwick at least, his win was simply crossing that finish line. That was a massive hurdle for him to overcome and one that probably at one stage, he thought he might never overcome. Now he has though, that could open up a world of possibilities for him in terms of races to do and target and he can perhaps now begin to focus on his times and performance rather than worrying about how he’s going to get across the finish line at the end.

Everyone at the club was really pleased to see Jack conquer his demons and successfully complete the race. That was as big of a win for him as anyone else’s accomplishments were to them in that race. No doubt he’ll be back out there competing in many a future race and that will be a massive bonus for Bournemouth AC. He possesses a very fast turn of pace and could progress into a fine athlete and a great asset.