Usually attracting a healthy contingent of Bournemouth AC runners, the Upton Summer Series was a very successful one last year with Rob McTaggart picking up the win, Hugo Richardson taking 4th and Seb Crowe sealing 6th. In this year’s Summer Series it was more the Bournemouth AC Juniors who took centre stage.

The 4 to 13 year olds battle it out over a 1 mile route, with the Seniors going at it over a 3.5 mile distance. Winning three of the races and finished 2nd in the other one he entered, Riley Austin bossed proceedings in the Junior Summer Series. He posted the fastest time of the series twice, in races 4 and 6 and that was an electric 5:07.

Finley Hurst-Atkins topped the standings in his age group for the second year running and finished 6th overall for the second year running as well. He managed a faster time this year though, clocking a fantastic 5:25.

Also completing the required quota of four races, Edward Davies finished 14th overall and that put him 3rd in the Boy 10 category meaning he just missed out on a prize. His fastest time was 5:53.

Solly Abu-Ghaba came 11th in the first race, 8th in the fourth race and 7th in the fifth race but he was one shy of a quartet. His fastest time was 5:40.

Also taking part in three of the races, Aiden Blagden was 21st in the first race, 13th in the second race and 21st in the fourth race and his fastest time of the series was 6:04.

Ted Fewings only did the first two races but he finished 23rd and 19th, recording a fastest time of 6:13.

 

It wasn’t only in Junior Series the Bournemouth AC athletes had success though. In the Senior Series, Laras McKenna finished 1st in the Female 14 to 17 category and Matilde Blagden came 2nd.

With a fastest time of 24:14, Laras ended the series as 5th fastest female overall which was a really impressive result. In the final race of the series she was 3rd female.

Recording a fastest time of 25:38, Matilde finished 12th female overall out of 127 who took part in the Summer Series. She finished 1st in the 14 to 17 category in two of the races, as did Laras. Laras was 2nd in her other two races though whereas Matilde was 2nd and 3rd.

Esmee Hurst-Atkins actually finished 1st in the 14 to 17 category ahead of Laras in both the races she did with a fastest time of 24:11. She was 8th and 4th female in those two races but she didn’t do any further ones after that.

Esmee’s dad Leon Atkins did the second, third and fourth races and came 62nd, 60th and 50th with a fastest time of 24:30. Michelle Dorrington did those same three races finishing 9th, 13th and 6th female with a fastest time of 24:36.

Adam Abu-Ghaba did Race 4 and Race 5 and finished 61st and 57th and was 6th and 3rd in the Male 14 to 17 category. His fastest time was 25:17.

The club’s National Athletics League team manager, Tim Hughes, was intending on doing the series as well and he completed the first race in 27:35 which put him in 112th place. In the second race though he was forced to pull out due to a hamstring problem. Sadly he wasn’t able to do any more of the races after that.

Out of everyone who competed in this year’s Upton Summer Series, it was Jamie Grose who emerged as top dog, winning all four of the races he took part in. He was also the only man to get round in under 19 minutes. He did that easily in each race, clocking times of 18:30, 18:20, 18:15 and 18:26.

His main competition was Rob Arkell of Poole Runners and he finished runner up to Jamie on three occasions and also won the two races that Jamie didn’t feature in. Rob’s best time was 19:02.

James Hill of JH Running Club was 3rd in the series overall with a best time of 19:14. Sam Shawyer was 4th overall and 1st in the Male 14 to 17 category with a best time of exactly 20 minutes.

David Penwarden of Poole Runners was the top placed vet, finishing 9th overall and producing a best time of 21:10. Pete Doughty of Westbourne was top of the 45 to 49 chart and he was 10th overall recording a best time of 21 minutes exactly. Steven Hogarth of Poole AC was best in the 65 to 69 category and he finished 24th overall with a best time of 22:17.

Jenny-Lee Marshall of Purbeck Runners was the top woman in the series, finishing 3rd female in three of her races and 1st female in the other one. She was 32nd overall with a best time of 22:36.

It was a close contest but Rachael Haddow of Poole AC was edged out into 2nd place after finishing 2nd female in two of her races, 3rd in one and 4th in the other two she did. Her best time of exactly 23 minutes and she came 36th overall

Vicky Rutter of Westbourne was 3rd female overall with two 2nd place finishes, one 3rd, one 4th and two 5th place finishes. Her best time was 23:39 and she came 47th overall. Jenny Walker-Leach of Poole Runners was 4th female for the series and 1st in the 45 to 49 category with a best time of 24:12.

Joanna Westhead of Poole Runners won the 50 to 54 category with her results making her 10th best lady overall. Her quickest time of the series was 25:29. Wendy Bullen of Verwood Runners claimed the best 55 to 59 prize, completing all the races in the series and finishing 11th female overall. Her fastest time was 25:29.

Heather Khoshnevis took first prize in the 60 to 64 category with her results making her 16th lady in the overall standings. Her best time of the series was 26:10.

In terms of the team competition, three club members of that gender were required to make up scoring side. In the second race of the series, Esmee Hurst-Atkins, Michelle Dorrington and Laras McKenna finished as 2nd placed team behind Poole AC. In the next race, that same Bournemouth AC trio repeated the same feat, finishing 2nd again to Poole AC.

In the fourth race of the series, Michelle, Laras and Matilde Blagden finished as 1st female team. It was the best four results that counted though and they didn’t get a team of three out for any of the other races.

The Poole AC women won four of the six fixtures which saw them take the ladies team victory. Westbourne finished 2nd with Poole Runners in 3rd. Emily Hilliar won the first race for Poole AC in 20:58, with Hayley Martin taking 2nd in 22:02. Rachael Haddow was 4th female in that race as well.

Hayley Martin went on to win the next two races of the series before unattached woman Susie Hill claimed victories in races four and five. Series winner Jenny-Lee Marshall claimed her only individual race win in the final matchup of the series.

In the men’s team competition, Poole Runners dominated proceedings, winning the first five races of the series. Poole AC were 2nd in all five of those races but in the sixth fixture, Poole AC came out on top with Poole Runners in 2nd.

It was great to see some of the younger Bournemouth AC members like Riley Austin, Finley Hurst-Atkins and Laras McKenna achieving such marvellous results in the Junior Summer Series and that can only bode well for the future. It will be exciting to see them grow and develop as they continue to flourish on their running journeys.

Huge thanks to Ken Hewitt Photography for his brilliant work on the Dorset running scene, capturing the action so eloquently and bringing to life the race reports, along with our social media accounts. Ken was on hand to deliver fabulous photos in each race of this year’s Summer Series.