Jacek Cieluszecki takes third place in the Poole 10k
The Poole Festival of Running, a massive event featuring 5k and 10k races, and various childrens’ races, organised by Poole Runners, took place on a very hot Sunday 7 June 2015. The day saw some excellent BAC results, and a brace of PBs in the 10k. Jacek Cieluszecki proved his return to form by finishing 3rd (of a total of 779 finishers) in 32.29, followed closely by Simon Munro, 11th in 34.44 and Paul Hill, 14th in 35.32, a PB. PBs were also achieved by BAC‘s next two finishers, Paul Consani, who was 27th in 36.48, and Chris O’Brien, 76th in 39.20. Dave Parsons was third V60 to cross the line (despite the fact that Dave is now what we used to call an OAP!) in a time of 45.04, 189th position. To complete the BAC squad were Joe Price, 283rd in 47.58, with Joe‘s dad, Will, finishing 672nd in 61.49. There were two excellent results by our youngsters in the 5k race. Of a total field of 207, Brandon Meredith was an excellent 5th in 19.04, with Sebastian Hearn an equally creditable 12th in 20.35.
Simon Munro features at the start of the Poole 10k
The day before, Saturday 6 June, Toby Chapman competed in his first Ultra Distance race – and won! The race in question was the Dartmoor Discovery, of which competitors are warned: “You’ll experience everything Dartmoor has to offer…………including unpredictable weather and those infamous hills”. The course is 32 miles long, involving 1363m of climbing, and Toby‘s winning time was 3 hr 51min 41s. Of the race, Toby says: “It was tougher than planned with no food taken on board, but good fun!” BAC seems to be developing a strong Ultra Distance squad – in addition to Toby, Steve Way, Jon Sharkey and Pat Robbins have produced some excellent Ultra results. Well done, Toby, on this amazing performance!
Toby Chapman’s well deserved award as winner of the Dartmoor Discovery
One series of races so far overlooked has been the Poole Runners Summer Series, at Upton Park. The first race, on Wednesday 13 May, was won by Peter Thompson, and on 27 May, the second race, Ross Smith was 12th. The change of day to Wednesday appears to have been a success, with 150 finishing on 13 May, and 190 on 27 May, on which date, of the 53 finishing the Junior race, BAC‘s Josh Monks was 53rd.
Of course, there are the Parkruns! On 6 June, BAC athletes competed only in the Bournemouth Parkrun, with Paul Hill finishing his customary 2nd, joined by Nikki Sandell (1st Lady), Steve Cox, Jud Kirk, Damian Boyle (perhaps returning from injury? – Damian‘s time was 8 minutes over his PB) and Will Price. 396 runners completed the event.