21 BAC athletes competed in the Boscombe 10k, organised by Bournemouth Joggers, on Sunday 22 November, starting and finishing at the Kings Park Stadium. Peter Thompson was the clear overall winner, almost 90 seconds clear of the second finisher, and Emma Dews won the ladies’ race, 21st overall of a total of 555.  Nikki Sandell was the second lady, with Gemma Bragg completing the winning BAC Ladies’ team in the Open event.  Paul Consani and Damian Boyle, 18th and 19th overall respectively completed the BAC Mens’ Open team, finishing second team to Littledown Harriers.  This was the final race of the Dorset Road Race League for 2015, and, in the League, BAC Ladies were the winners on the day, with the BAC Mens’ team (consisting of Peter, Paul and Damian, plus Adrian Townsend and Sanjai Sharma) second League team, as in the Open event, to Littledown Harriers.  BAC‘s Mens’ and Ladies’ teams had won the League, both top of Division 1, before the Boscombe 10k, but nevertheless it was pleasing to see such a good result to finish the League year.  In the Mens’ competition, Poole AC were second in Division 1, with Littledown Harriers third, so it is clear that BAC is going to have to keep the foot on the accelerator if we are going to continue our winning run in 2016.  One notable feature of the final League results for 2015 is the absence of BAC individual winners, with Steve Cox and Dave Parsons being the only BAC athletes to have competed in at least seven races.    Boscombe 10k results (BAC):  1. Peter Thompson 33.40;  19. Paul Consani 37.35;  20. Damian Boyle 37.37;  21. Emma Dews 37.45;  26. Adrian Townsend 38.25;  29. Sanjai Sharma 38.38;  36. Chris O’Brien 39.02;  49. Nikki Sandell 40.01;  54. Gemma Bragg 40.34;  64. Jud Kirk 41.09;  71. Tony Hunt 41.32;  78. Steve Cox 41.53;  119. Ian White 44.20;  125. Ian Graham 44.39; 127 Caroline Rowley 44.39;  143. Andy Gillespie 45.20;  158. Louise Price 45.51;  162. Jack Betts 46.00;  166. Dave Parsons 46.08;  477. Sam Laws 59.50;  481. Will Price 59.57.

More Boscombe 10k photos below (all photos with thanks to Graeme Miller)……………………………………………….

The day before, Saturday 21 November, Ross Smith was third in the Wildman 2015 Duathlon at the Army testing ground at Ash Ranges, Surrey.  This consisted of a 10k run, 18k bike and 5k run, over a course described as “hills, mud, and then some more hills, wet boggy trails through heather moorland – sounds fun!”  Ross finished in a total time of 2.03.55, not far behind the winning time of 2.00.21.  There were a total of 210 finishers, with a considerable number of DNFs, which illustrates just how strong Ross is in events of this nature.

There wasn’t a great deal of BAC activity in the parkruns on 21 November.  In the Bournemouth Parkrun, only three BAC athletes, Ian Graham, Will Price and Jemma Bates, running in her first parkrun, were amongst the total of 269.  In the Poole Parkrun, there was just Simon Munro, 14th of a total of 534, and, at Brockenhurst, Phil Mosley was 5th of a total of 113.

Back to the Boscombe 10k………………………………….