Doing the same race over the course of a few years can often provide a good barometer of performance levels, allowing a runner to track their progression over a period of time. Races tend to be on at the same time of year so the conditions will be similar and the course will tend to be the same as well. That makes the comparison like for like.

Bournemouth AC star Barry Dolman ran the Asics London 10k in 37:49 in 2023. Last year he managed a 37:38 in the Saucony London 10k, which was what the race name changed to. That was a touch faster, showing that Barry’s running was moving in the right direction. Could he follow that trend again for a third year running?

Registering a 37:44 at the Stubbington 10k in January, Barry went on the run a 37:01 at the Eastleigh 10k in March. That was only 7 seconds off his PB despite running 12-and-a-half miles before the race even started. He was training for the London Marathon then.

In the build up to the Saucony London 10k, Barry did the Sri Chinmoy 5k in Battersea Park, finishing in 100th place and 7th in the MV50 category in a time of 17:47. It was a very high standard field, with Seyfu Jamaal of London Heathside winning it in 14:31.

Abedeji Oluwatosin of Newham AC was second in 14:54, with Nick Bester taking third in 15:01. 24 runners got round in under 16 minutes.

A few of Barry’s mates from the local running scene were there as well including Stacey Dickinson who finished in 18:55, Kevin Willsher who ran it in 16:54 and Loz Wickham who clocked 17:12.

The weekend before the Saucony London 10k, Barry equalled his parkrun PB of 17:35, confirming that he was very much a man in form. That bode well for his prospects in the 10k.

The best thing about the Saucony London 10k is probably the carnival atmosphere. They have live bands and DJs playing out on the course and of course, being in London, roaring crowds the whole way round.

The course touches on many of London’s most iconic landmarks including Westminster Bridge, The London Eye, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and Big Ben. In theory it should be a fast course since its mostly flat. The problem is there are loads of little out-and-back, where you essentially run up to a cone and then turn round and run back the other way. That can easily break your rhythm.

Starting off with a 6:01 for his first mile, even though it was on a slightly upward trajectory, Barry then upped the ante with a 5:47 for his second mile. That was mostly on a slightly downhill trajectory.

There was an incline for the first third of the next mile and Barry ended up going through that in 6:10. Reaching the 5k point in 18:36, it was a good effort from Barry thus far.

Putting in a 5:51 for his fourth mile, Barry then went on to clock a 6:06 for his fifth mile and a 6:09 for his sixth. That gave him a finishing time of 37:16 and an average pace of 6:01. It was enough to put Barry in 222nd place out of 13,067 finishers and also earnt him first place in the Male 55 to 59 category out of 376.

To be finishing top of an age category in such a big race was a huge achievement from Barry and showed that in his age division, there aren’t too many faster runners out there.

Stacey Dickinson was there as well and he finished 667th in a time of 40:43 which put him 14th in the Male 50 to 54 category. Another of Barry’s mates, Graham Pavett was there as well and he finished 1,659th in a time of 45:09 and he was 65th in the Male 50 to 54 category.

Alfie Manthorpe of Hallamshire Harriers got the win in 29:33 which put him five seconds ahead of Jared Ward who was second. Mohamed Massat Bouzahar of Club de Atletismo Gran Canarias took third in 29:42 and Joshua Grace of Aldershot Farnham & District was fourth in 29:46.

The top six runners all finished in under 30 minutes, showing what a high standard race it was at the front of the field. 12 athletes got round in under 31 minutes and 30 men completed the course in under 33 minutes.

It was a great battle between the top two women but Magalie Jaunet edged it in the end over Becky Briggs of City of Hull by just two seconds. They finished in 54th and 55th places in times of 34:14 and 34:16 respectively.

Greta Carea was the next female finisher, crossing the line in 35:16 which put her in 85th place and Holly Archer was fourth female in 98th place, recording a time of 35:30.

It was an encouraging performance for Barry as he started his training for the New York Marathon which is on November 2nd. Barry’s current marathon PB is 2:53:16 which he did at Sydney last September. There was a feeling that he was on course to better that when he was training for the London Marathon earlier this year. Then he picked up a calf injury with 25 days remaining which pretty much stopped him running properly until the day of the race.

He did well in the end to get round in 3:04:18 under the circumstances but it certainly wasn’t a measure of what he truly was capable of had that not happened. Hopefully he won’t experience any issues like that in the build up to New York and he have a stab at getting a new PB.