Classified as a multi-terrain race, it’s only really the start and the finish of the route, which is in front of the Langton Arms pub, that is on tarmac. The rest of the Tarrant Valley 10k is off-road. It is a fairly hilly course with some challenging ascents. Nothing that Bournemouth AC MV40 Ricky Brennan couldn’t handle though. He’s been perhaps one of the most improved runners of the road group since the turn of the year.
Becoming a very valuable player for the team in recent races, Ricky was third scorer at the Alton 10 and second scorer at the May 5. Joining Ricky on the start line a the Tarrant Valley 10k was the evergreen Geoff Newton. He came into it off the back of finishing 4th in his age category at the European Masters Half Marathon.
Geoff loves the Masters competitions and is prepared to travel far and wide to compete in the them. That said, he’s more at home in an off-road setting so the Tarrant Valley 10k suited him just fine.
There is quite a challenging ascent on the first kilometre of the route before it continues along bridleways and farm tracks. It’s fairly flat until the half way point at Six Cross Ways in Chetterwood. Then comes a gentle climb up to Launceston Wood before it opens out with some scenic views of the North Dorset countryside.
An 800m descent on Common Drove follows before its back on the road for a 600m sprint to the finish. The conditions on the day were warm and sunny.
Producing the same chip time as Iain Ferguson of Poole Runners, Ricky finished 6th in 39:34, with Iain taking 5th on gun time. That was a decent time from Ricky considering it was an undulating course.
Running pretty well as well, Geoff got round in 53:39, which isn’t much slower than what he would expect to do on the road. That put him 96th overall which put him firmly in the top half in a field of 218. There wasn’t an MV70+ category in the results so Geoff was put down as 15th in the MV60+ category.
Poole AC man Rob Doubleday picked up the win in 37:14, with Louis Verdi of Wimborne AC taking 2nd in 38:19. Former Bournemouth AC man Sam Jackson came 3rd in 38:49, with Mark Peddle of Poole Runners placing 4th in 39:17.
Sam’s brother Luke also used to run for BAC and he finished 9th in 40:45. Rachael Haddow was 1st female in 43:26 which put her 30th overall. Ruth Holloway came in 2nd female in 44:48 and that put her 41st overall. Miranda Aldridge came in as 3rd female in 45:11 which out her 45th overall.
That race might have served Ricky well in preparation for the Alresford 10k, which is a very tough, hilly route. That was the penultimate race of the Hampshire Road Race League and a win for Bournemouth AC would put them in driving seat to top Division Two and gain promotion to Division One.
Tending to race most weekends, Geoff finds it easier to run fast in comparison to a training run. He had the Giants Head Half Marathon down on his schedule though which is an extremely challenging trail race containing 1,400ft of elevation.