In what was probably the most picturesque race he’s ever done, Julian Oxborough was in Langport, Somerset, for the Battle of Sedgemoor 10k. The route heads along rural roads and is fairly fast and is thought to be PB potential, although it does have a few mild inclines.

It’s also part of the Somerset Series which consists of 17 individual races where athletes vie for points that will be totted up at the end of the series. That adds an additional level of competitiveness to some of the smaller races in the area.

Currently in training for the London Marathon on the first weekend of October, Julian was treating the Battle of Sedgemoor 10k as a warm up for that. He will be running London on behalf of the NSPCC and has already raised over £1,600 for them.

The route for the Battle of Sedgemoor 10k passes through the Somerset Levels and the ancient village of Muchelny. It’s a single lap route, starting and finishing at Huish Leisure Centre.

Starting off with a 9:55 first mile, Julian was quite quick out of the blocks. Then after another half a mile, the first hill came into play. The next mile after that was pretty tough going as it was mostly on an incline. Then at 2.5 miles there was a bit of downhill respite. It was fairly plain sailing after that until one last tricky little ramp near the end.

His target time of 1 hour 15 minutes was roughly what he did at the Glastonbury Round the Tor 10k in back in the Spring of 2019. Races had been few and far between for him since then. His last outing was the Cardiff Half Marathon towards the end of March, which he completed in just over three hours.

Crossing the line in a time of 1:17:56, Julian finished up in 277th place and that put him 36th the Male V50 category. Given that it was quite hot on the day, Julian was extremely pleased with how he ran. Getting through this race will hopefully give him more confidence to take into London where he will be determined to do the best he can.

Tom Merson of Exmouth Harriers picked up the race win in a lightening quick time of 31:31, which was enough to give him a minute advantage over Michael Parrott of Running for Time who was his nearest rival.

The battle for first female spot was very tightly contested, with Gill Pearson of Running for Time just edging it from Susan Duncan of Weston AC. Their times were 38:53 and 38:56 respectively, putting them 24th and 25th in the overall standings.