Proving a popular event amongst the Bournemouth AC fraternity over the years, there were plenty of yellow and blue vests competing in the 2025 Upton Summer Series and several of them were shooting for age category prizes.

One of the big pluses about the Upton Summer Series is that there are a lot of prizes on offer and it gives a vast array of athletes an opportunity to come away with something if they manage to do four out of six races.

The races take place on various Wednesday evening’s throughout the summer and are contested over a mildly undulating, two lap, 3.5 mile course round Upton Country Park.

There’s also a Juniors race as well which is contested over a one mile route, giving the youngsters a chance to get involved and show what they can do. Bournemouth AC star Riley Austin won the Junior Summer Series last year with three wins and a second place out of his four races.

This year Riley stepped up to the Seniors division, meaning he had to contend with the best athletes in the whole event. That would be a considerable notch up in the standard of competition.

Finishing 6th in the second race, Riley raced round for a 20:12 finish. He then went on to finish 5th in the third race in 20:33. A 20:13 finish saw him take 3rd place in the fourth fixture before he managed to clock his fastest time of the series, recording a 20:03, which put him in 3rd place again.

That was enough to see him take 5th place on the leader-board overall, which was a fantastic effort. Sam Shawyer of Littledown Harriers was faster though and he was 4th overall and top of the 14 to 17 category, ahead of Riley. Sam finished 4th, 3rd, 4th and 2nd and whizzed round in 19:20 in his fastest race of the series.

Andrew Smith of Poole Runners did all six races but got his best results in the final four, coming 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 2nd. That put him in 3rd place in the overall standings.

Poole AC man Jamie Grose lit up the Summer Series with a new course record of 17:56 in the opening race, beating a long standing time set by the great Steve Way. Jamie went on to win the second, third and fifth races of the series in his four appearances, sealing the overall win in dominant fashion.

His Poole AC teammate Dom Willmore finished runner up to Jamie in the first three races before going on to win the final race of the series. That earned him 2nd place for the series overall.

 

Completing a full set of six on his card, Callum Pearson finished 3rd in the 14 to 17 category behind Riley Austin. His best result was a 22:10 that he managed in Race 4 which put him in 21st place. He was 2nd in his age category in two of the races and 3rd in two of the others.

That put Callum 35th in the overall standings for the series, just behind Stacey Dickinson of Wimborne AC.

It wasn’t only the Bournemouth AC boys who impressed in the 14 to 17 category though. Laras McKenna defended her crown in the girls competition, finishing first in the age group in all four races she participated in. She saved the best till last as well, clocking her best time of 23:45 in the final race.

Her teammate Matilde Blagden finished first in the 14 to 17 age group in the second and third races of the series and was 2nd to Laras in the opening race and 4th in the fifth race of the series. That was enough to see her finish as runner up in the category, just as she did last year. Her fastest time of the series was a 25:06 which she did in the second fixture.

Completing five of the six races in the series, Michelle Dorrington came 5th in the women’s 18 to 39 category, just behind Kitty Cook, who has since joined Bournemouth AC. Michelle finished 4th in the first and third races in the category. Then she was 6th in the fourth and fifth races. She also saved her best performance of the series till the last race where she got round in 23:48.

Kitty Cook did all six races, finishing 3rd in the category in a couple of them and 2nd in the fifth race. It was in that fifth race that she registered her fastest time of 23:35.

Finishing 2nd in the series to former Bournemouth AC member Gemma Bragg in the 40 to 44 category, Helen Beddoe kept getting faster with each race. She started off with a 26:19 in her first race and finished on 24:28 for the last one. That was quite some progression over the course of the summer, knocking two minutes off. Her consistent appearances at club training were certainly paying off.

Emily Hilliar of Poole AC finished first female in all four of the races she participated in and ended on a high by wrapping up the series win and producing her fastest time in the final fixture. That was a sensational 20:57 which is just two seconds off Serena O’Connor’s course record from 2017.

Hannah Slater won the first race of the series and then went on the finish 2nd in three of the other fixtures to cement 2nd place overall. Her quickest time of the series was 21:33 which she did in that first race.

Gemma Bragg was 3rd overall after finished 2nd female in three of her four races and first in the other which gave her an equal record to Hannah Slater. Gemma’s quickest time was 22:28 though which wasn’t quite as fast as Hannah’s so it may have come down to that.

Vicky Rutter of Littledown Harriers did all six races and finished 3rd female in five of them and 4th female in the other. Her best time of the series was 22:56.

Kitty Cook was 5th female on the final leaderboard and Laras McKenna was 6th. Michelle Dorrington came 9th female overall and Helen Beddoe came 11th. Matilde Blagden finished 19th female in the final standings.

Shaving almost a minute off his previous best in his first race of the Summer Series, Tim Hughes was off to a flyer with a 26:43. He then went on to improve on that in the second race with a 26:37. In the fourth race of the series, he knocked another three seconds off.

Going on to clock a 26:42 for the fifth race of the series, he then finished with a 26:44 in the final fixture. That put him 7th in the 55 to 59 category for the series as a whole and Tim was really pleased that he’d seen further signs of progression off the back of the training he’s been doing.

Ian Graham did the first three races in the series, finishing 2nd to Ian Barnes of Poole Runners in the 75 to 79 age category and 3rd in the other one. He set his best time of 33:34 in the opening fixture and that was a faster time than anyone else in the category besides Ian Barnes managed.

Ben Arnold did two of the races, finishing 51st in the first one with a time of 23:34. He performed much better in his next one though, clocking a 22:16 which put him in 24th place.

Leon Atkins raced in the second fixture of the series and clocked a time of 24:22 which put him in 60th place overall and 10th in the Male 45 to 49 category.

Lee Dempster of Twemlow Track Club finished 6th in the overall standings and he was first in the 40 to 44 category, just ahead of John Towner of Poole Runners who was 7th overall.

Chris Wood of Twemlow Track Club came 8th overall and was first in the 45 to 49 category, with Iain Ferguson of Poole Runners taking 9th overall and his teammate David Penwarden taking 10th and topping the standings in the 50 to 54 category.

In the team competition, the Bournemouth AC ladies won two of the races, finished 2nd in two of the others and 3rd in the other. The Poole Runners ladies won three of the fixtures and finished 3rd in the other three. That meant they both had an equal score for their best four races and at first Poole Runners were awarded the win.

It later transpired though, thanks to Michelle Dorrington’s calculations that Bournemouth AC should have won it by virtue of cumulative time. They were then given the shield and case of wine at the Boscombe Seafront 5k, as they rightfully should have been at the original presentation.

In the men’s team competition, Poole AC were the victors, with four wins guaranteeing them top spot. Poole Runners were 2nd, with two wins and two 2nd places on their card. Bournemouth AC finished 6th.

In the Junior Summer Series, Finley Hurst Atkins was going for his third consecutive age group win for the series. He bagged a PB in the first race if the series, clocking a time of 5:23 which saw him finished 2nd overall.

Then he improved it to 5:19 in the second race which saw him take 4th place in the standings. In Race 4 he came 3rd in 5:28 before going on to register a brilliant 5:14 in Race 5. That got him 2nd place in the standings for that race and the signs of progress were clearly there.

Those performances put Finley 3rd on the overall leader-board for the Junior Summer Series and the boys who finished ahead of him, Charlie Harrison of Poole AC and Harry Samways of Poole Runners, were both 13, so Finley won the Boy 12 category.

Aiden Blagden was 2nd to Finley in the Boy 12 category in the first race of the series and 9th overall in 5:37. He then produced a 5:32 in the second one which again put him 2nd to Finley in the Boy 12 category and 8th overall.

In the third race of the series he got round in 5:29 which put him first in the Boy 12 category and 4th overall. In the fourth race of the series, he registered a 5:36 which put him 2nd to Finley in the Boy 12 category and 6th overall.

In his fifth and final appearance, Aiden clocked a 5:31 which put him again 2nd to Finley in the Boy 12 category and 4th overall. That meant he’d finished 2nd in the Boy 12 category for the series and 7th in the overall standings.

Edward Davies finished 3rd in the Boy 11 category and 15th overall in the first race of the series in a time of 5:50. He then clocked a 5:52 in the third race which put him 4th Boy 11 and 11th overall.

Getting round in 5:57 in the fourth race of the series, he was 2nd in the Boy 11 category and 13th overall. Then in the sixth race of the series he registered a 5:51 which made him 2nd Boy 11 and 8th overall.

That saw him take 3rd position in the Boy 11 category for the series and 15th in the overall leader-board out of a total of 149 athletes.

It was great to see so many Bournemouth AC members excelling at this year’s Summer Series event and in particular, some of the clubs younger members and those just breaking through into the senior ranks showed glimpses of the bright futures they have ahead of them. On the basis of what went on at the Summer Series, there’s certainly plenty of reasons for optimism for the yellow and blues in the coming years.

Massive thanks to Ken Hewitt for all the brilliant photos taken over the course of the series.