At the half way stage in the season, the outlook was looking bleak in the Dorset Road Race League for Bournemouth AC, with both the men’s and ladies’ teams rooted to the bottom of the First Division tables. They’d had very little to celebrate thus far, barring a win for the ladies at the May 5 and a second place for the men.

With six races left though, all was not lost and it was still achievable for the yellow and blues to survive relegation and avoid dropping into the Second Division. In fact, with a strong second half of the season, it was still possible that they could win the league title, with a best seven of twelve counting toward the final standings.

They needed to get the ball rolling by performing well at the Stur Half though, first and foremost, and every fixture would be crucial from now until the end of the season. After his fourth place finish in the blistering heat at the Blackmore Vale Half Marathon, Josh Cole was game for another hot and hilly half marathon.

After finishing 11th at the Purbeck 10k when he wasn’t a Bournemouth AC runner, Rich Nelson moved quickly to bring Alex Knauf in and he’d been attending all the training sessions since then and absolutely smashing them. He definitely has the work ethic to match his natural speed and it would be interesting to see how he fared in a tough half marathon.

Getting round in just under 1 hour 27 minutes at the Stur Half last year, Jason Christian was back for another go and looking to see if he could improve on that. Thomas Woods had also thrown his name into the mix, as had Harley Brooks, so they had a scoring team of five men.

Then Rich Brawn decided to sign up late on to bolster the squad and give them one extra than the required number of scorers, which is what they usually try to aim for. He did it last year in 1:22:37 so that gave him a rough sort of target to aim for.

For the women, it was only Max Yao who had signed up for it. She ran the Bournemouth Bay Half Marathon in 1:51:22 earlier in the year so that gave her a benchmark to aim for but of course, the Stur Half course was much more undulating and was always likely to present her with more of a challenge. She was hoping to get round in under two hours though at least.

Dorset Road Race League men’s individual champion Chris Peck was in the starting line up and over a longer distance race of a hilly persuasion, he’s often the man to beat. Matt Underhill was competing as well and he’s likely to be Josh Cole’s main rival in the 35 to 39 category for the league.

Following on from his impressive second place finish at the Blackmore Vale Half Marathon, Rich White of Dorset Doddlers was hoping to replicate that level of performance at the Stur Half and Poole Runners star Lewis Clarke was also likely to be in the mix.

Wimborne AC duo Louis Verdi and Mark Savage, who were first and second in the men’s individual table after the first six fixtures, were racing as well, as were Twemlow Track Club pair Sam and Luke Jackson who both ran well at Blackmore Vale.

After finishing first female at the Blackmore Vale Half Marathon, Vicky Rutter was hoping to repeat those heroics. She was up against Teresa Green of Egdon Heath Harriers who was in a good position in the women’s individual standings at the half way stage of the season.

Isabel Zanonato of Purbeck Runners, Emma Mogridge of Dorset Doddlers and Kirstin Hay of Poole AC were also competing at the Stur Half, as were Jenny Walker-Leach and Sarah Swift of Poole Runners.

When the race began, it was Chris Peck and Team Bath athlete Lester James who broke away from the pack and into the lead. Josh knew from previous encounters that Chris was running at a higher level than him so he didn’t feel like he needed to go with them. Instead he went with Lewis Clarke and they became the chasers.

At least half of the first mile was uphill but Chris and Lester still went out hard, clocking a 5:13 for their first mile split. Lewis and Josh were about five seconds behind at that stage. Chris and Lester then went through the second mile in about 5:20, with Lewis and Josh getting through it in 5:27.

Blasting through the third mile in 5:08, Lester began to extend away from Chris. It was a really impressive show of speed from him. Josh and Lewis clocked a 5:25 for the third mile, followed by a 5:36 and a 5:33.

Lewis then went off in pursuit of Chris and Josh couldn’t go with him. There was quite a long, steep climb at 6.5 miles that is pretty tough going. Then on the eighth mile there’s another notable climb.

Lester was somehow still able to go at 5:20 pace and was extending his lead over Chris with each mile. Lewis hadn’t got that far away from Josh and from miles 9 to 13, Josh was trying to bridge the gap between them.

The last 5k of the Stur Half is super tough with a massive hill going from 11.5 miles to 12.5 miles. It was a bit of a slog and Luke and Josh were reduced to around six minute mile pace.

Putting in a strong last mile at 5:48, Lewis was able to see out the race and stay ahead of Josh, taking third place in 1:14:06. That was an average pace of 5:39. Josh arrived 18 seconds later to clock a time of 1:14:24 which put him in fourth place.

Lester was only knocked down to about 5:30 pace for the 11th and 12th miles and finished with a 5:42 for his 13th mile. It really was a quite staggering display from the man who finished runner up to Tommy Corbin at the Stur Half the previous year.

This time Lester had proved a cut above the rest and crossed the line in an astonishing time of 1:10:59. That was an average pace of 5:21 on a course with 500ft of elevation.

Chris Peck arrived two minutes later to clock a time of 1:13:09 which was still an amazing run on that course. His average pace was 5:35 and he was over two minutes quicker than the time he managed the previous year when he finished third.

The rest of the field was quite a way behind the top four but Salah Dahir of Royal Manor of Portland was best of the rest, taking 5th place in 1:16:15. Rich White was 6th in 1:16:21 and Josh Chivers of Lordshill Road Runners took 7th in 1:16:39.

Mark Savage continued his fine form to come in in 1:18:28 and he was second vet after Chris Peck. After being out injured for a while, Tommy Corbin was building his fitness back and he put in a controlled effort to get round in 1:18:41.

Unattached runner Charles Ford took 10th place in 1:19:12 and Matt Underhill claimed 11th place in a time of 1:19:26.

Starting off spritely with a 5:25 for his first mile, Alex Knauf then went through his next five miles at about 5:40 pace. When the hills started to come into play it started getting tougher and his pace began to drop a tough, getting closer to 6 minutes per mile.

He still went through 10 miles in 57:39 which was a terrific effort but he found the last 5k a bit of a slog. To his credit though, he kept going and still managed to make it to the line in 1:19:48 which is certainly no disgrace on that course. That put him in 12th place and he was the first Under 21 man over the line.

Luke McKenzie of Poole AC registered a time of 1:21:56 which put him in 16th place with former Bournemouth AC man Sam Jackson getting round in 1:22:05. Mark Peddle of Poole Runners recorded a faster chip time though of 1:22:02.

Rich Brawn found himself in a group with Christian Rodiger of Littledown Harriers, Louis Verdi and another Wimborne AC runner. Louis Suggett was just ahead of them as they progressed along the course at around 6:20 pace.

The other Wimborne AC runner pulled out after a little while but Louis Verdi and Christian Rodiger pressed on and they’d been joined by other runners who had caught them up. Rich was having a bad day though and after a while he decided he’d have to let the group go. He just didn’t have the strength and the speed for it on the day.

Louis Suggett was growing into the race though and finding his rhythm. Over the second half of the race he managed to catch Luke Jackson and Pete Doughty who were just ahead of him.

On about the eighth mile Rich got caught by Twemlow Track Club pair Lee Dempster and Haydan Clarke. Lee was running strongly and soon pressed on, leaving Rich and Haydan behind and heading off in pursuit of others up ahead.

It felt like there was a constant headwind during the second half of the race and Rich and Haydon worked together for the last five miles, taking it in turns to bare the brunt of the wind whilst the other one sheltered. That helped them keep the wheels turning over the challenging latter stages.

Running really strongly towards the end of the race, Louis Suggett climbed up to 21st place in the end, clocking a time of 1:22:49. He finished one place behind David Penwarden of Poole Runners who was first V50. Louis Verdi crossed the line just after Louis Suggett in a chip time of 1:22:51.

Corey Stone was third scorer for Egdon Heath Harriers in a time of 1:23:08, although Pete Doughty was a second faster on chip time. They were 24th and 25th. Luke Jackson had a decent run to get round in 1:23:14 which put him in 26th.

Christian Rodiger began to fade a bit towards the end and Haydan and Rich were catching him up. Not quickly enough to get close though and he held position. Dave Hicks, now representing Twemlow Track Club, caught Haydan and Rich up near the end but he’d expended so much energy catching them that he didn’t have anything left to contest the places.

Rich was 29th in 1:24:24 and he was fourth scorer for Bournemouth AC. Haydan and Dave completed the scoring team of five for Twemlow Track Club and they were the first team to do that. The only issue was that they didn’t have anyone in the top 15.

Dave Hicks was the first of three MV50’s to finish consecutively with Mark Packer taking 31st place in 1:24:39 and Richard Swindlehurst placing 32nd in 1:25:05.

Running pretty strongly throughout, Thomas Woods showed everyone what he’s all about. His pace was fairly even at roughly 6:30 for the first 10 miles. He slowed a bit over the last few miles but everyone did really so there was no disgrace in that.

Clocking a time of 1:25:54, Thomas finished 33rd and was fifth scorer for Bournemouth AC. They’d done really well to get all five scorers in that high up and it was certainly one of their better days in the Dorset Road Race League thus far. In fact it was just what they needed.

Going at around 6:40 pace for the first half of the race, Jason Christian found the headwind quite tough to contend with in the second half. He was just under 6:50 pace for his 7th and 8th miles before going through the 9th in 6:54. He then clocked a 6:38 for his 10th mile before embarking on that tough final 5k.

He kept going really well over the latter stages, registering a 6:51 for his 12th mile and 6:44 for his 13th. That saw him get over the line in 1:28:08. That was 1 minute 19 seconds down on his time from the previous year. It was still a decent effort though from Jason and he was 48th overall and 8th V50.

The battle for first female spot was going on around him, with Isabel Zanconato shading it in the end. She finished just in front of Jason in 1:28:06. Emma Mogridge came 49th in 1:28:26. Teresa Green was third female in 1:33:10 which put her in 65th place.

Poole Runners did well though. They had Francesca Kenway-Christopher who was 5th female in 1:35:09, Jenny Walker-Leach who was 8th lady in 1:37:57, Sarah Swift who was 10th woman in 1:38:26 and Lillian Docherty who was 15th female in 1:40:09.

Heather Khoshnevis was first over 65 female in 1:40:46 which made her 16th placed lady. Harley Brooks was the final Bournemouth AC man over the line. He registered a time of 1:44:22 which put him in 138th place.

Max Yao was the last Bournemouth AC member to reach the finish. She notched a time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 11 seconds which put her in 234th place overall and she was 54th female out of 109. It wasn’t quite the time she’d been hoping for but it was definitely the hardest course she’d raced on since arriving in the UK.

The Bournemouth AC men‘s scoring team of five finished up on 77 points. The Egdon Heath Harriers top five scored 89 points and Twemlow Track Club men finished on 92. That meant the BAC men got the win they wanted. The win they desperately needed in all honesty.

They’ll be hoping this could be the catalyst for a resurgence from the yellow and blues. The introduction of the Boscombe Prom 5k to the Dorset Road Race League schedule was a massive plus for Bournemouth AC as, with it being located right on their doorstep, they will be massive favourites to take the win there. Then after that will be the Round the Lakes 10k which will present another possibility of a high placing. If they can win that as well, they might just be on course for the comeback of the century.