With the Mens' League title already wrapped up for 2011, it was pleasing to see a strong contingent of BAC athletes competing in the final League fixture of the year, strong not only in quality, but also quantity, with no fewer than 13 making the journey north for the 'Gilly Hilly' 7.5 mile race on Sunday, 6 November. Jon Sharkey proved that his assertion that he is "getting fit" is indeed the case, as it took a clearly in-form ex-BAC (now Poole Runners) George Miller to deny Jon a win. Within 2 minutes of Jon's second position, three more BAC yellow shirts had crossed the line in succession. Robin Copestick achieved what may have been an ambition, to beat club Captain Simon Munro, finishing third, but only 11 seconds in front of Simon! In fifth place was new signing Jez Bragg, demonstrating what a valuable asset to the club he is going to be, particularly impressive considering that, only a week earlier, Jez had competed in the notorious Snowdon Marathon! As the next BAC finisher, Roy Long was the second veteran, only 4 seconds behind a much younger winner of the veterans' race, a result which achieved for Roy the third position in the League for the year. With Roy not counting for the BAC League team (having competed at the beginning of the year for Wimborne AC), the honour of counting as the fifth member of the team fell to Graeme Miller, who finished a matter of seconds after Roy. Despite the fact that Poole Runners' and Littledown Harriers' ladies were present in strength, battling for the 2011 Ladies' League title, BAC's Janie Chapman, a veteran, collected the prize for the third lady overall. The first team prize went to the BAC team of Jon, Robin and Simon.

BAC has achieved a number of individual League titles this year, in addition to the Mens' Division 1 title already referred to. The individual winner of the League is Ian Habgood, second is Simon Munro, and third is Roy Long. The individual winner of the Ladies' League is Janie Chapman. In the age categories, Simon Munro wins 21-24, Ian Habgood wins 25-29, Roy Long wins 45-49, Janie Chapman wins ladies' 40-44 and Helen Ambrosen wins ladies' 55-59. Congratulations to all our winners, and in addition to those athletes not mentioned who, throughout the year, have been part of the winning League teams (of 5) in League races.

With the good news that the League will continue into 2012, let's hope that BAC can continue to challenge for the title in the way that we have done for the last few years. The League has been challenging in 2011, with the outcome uncertain until almost the very end, in both the Mens' and the Ladies' competitions (unfortunately the Ladies' competition not involving BAC!), which has made it more enjoyable. The League has been very professionally managed by Dave Sanderson for something like 20 years, a task from which Dave is now taking well-earned retirement. We are very grateful to Dave for all he has done to make the League such a success. The reins will now be taken on for the moment by Peter Wallis, of Christchurch Runners, assisted by Sam Lednor (known to us as Simon Munro's fiancé), with the intention that Sam will herself manage the League as from 2013. Our thanks are due to Peter and Sam for taking this on.

Results (BAC)
2. Jon Sharkey 41.50; 3. Robin Copestick 42.00; 4. Simon Munro 42.11; 5. Jez Bragg 43.28; 13. Roy Long 45.39; 16. Graeme Miller 45.57; 24. David Long 47.07; 27. Jud Kirk 47.45; 38. Janie Chapman 49.20; 56.Ian Graham 51.42; 86. Andrew Gillespie 55.02; 109. Dave Parsons 57.24; 110 Helen Ambrosen 57.25.