Just one week on from a tough day out at the London Marathon, Katie Gunn decided to thrust herself back into action at the North Dorset Village Marathon. Feeling like she hadn’t got the result she wanted at London, she was keen for another bite at the cherry. After going through all those months of hard training, putting in the long runs and completing the gruelling interval sessions, she felt like she needed to get something out of it. Something that she could really be proud of.

It was a difficult day for many at London as it was quite hot on the day and that scuppered the chances for a lot of runners to achieve the times that they were hoping for. It was Katie’s first ever marathon and she was going for a sub three, which would have been a testing task, even in cool conditions. With the ability she has though, it certainly wasn’t out of reach.

The race was going well for the first 14 miles until she started feeling sick. She tried to keep that pace up but ended up being sick on the 15th mile. Then she threw up again on the 22nd mile and had to sit with the medics for a bit. Sadly it became a bit of a run/walk sort of situation for the last nine miles and the time she was hoping for was out the window.

Despite all that though, she still managed to get to the line in 3 hours 31 minutes which was a Good for Age time, meaning she can have another go next year. That wasn’t enough though. She wanted to achieve something now, off the back of this training block. Hence she set her sights on the NDVM.

As for Stu Nicholas, he hadn’t been racing at London. He and his wife Anna had gone up to watch and support the runners they knew who were participating, including all the Bournemouth AC members. They were there to witness all the carnage unfold as the heat took its toll on many of the runners.

Stu had done some pretty challenging runs of his own recently though, including the BigMud Marathon which was an absolutely brutal course on the South Downs. He won that one in just under 3 hours 50 minutes but it certainly took a lot out of him.

He then went on to face the Feighan Fury 10 Mile Trail Race over another tough hilly course. That was whilst he was away in Devon. Most recently, Stu had ran extremely well to finish fifth at the Salisbury 10, completing the course in 56:37. He was first scorer for the club that day in what turned out to be a winning team performance in the Hampshire Road Race League.

Most of the first mile of the North Dorset Village Marathon course is uphill but it didn’t seem to slow Stu down much as he went through it in 6:06. Then was the another incline to get up in the second and third mile before a steep descent.

Stu went through those two miles in 5:49 and 5:46 before embarking upon a relatively flat section for the next six miles. For that part of the race he was going at around 5:50 to 5:55 pace. Then there was another hill to tackle on the ninth mile. He went through that one in 6:17 and there were quite a few undulations for follow for the next four miles.

Registering a 6:15 for his tenth mile, Stu then went on to post a 6:07, a 6:11 and a 6:08 for his next few miles taking him to half way in about 1:18:30. That was really strong running from Stu and if he could maintain that sort of pace he would have done really well.

The last time he did the North Dorset Village Marathon, which was in 2022, Stu had won it in a time of 2:40:30, so he was certainly well capable of running a fast time on that course despite the undulations.

Realising that it wasn’t likely to be a fast one, due to the nature of the course, Katie started off a lot more conservatively at around 7:10 pace. She was about to keep that going comfortably for the first half of the race, going through the half marathon point in 1 hour 34 minutes.

She was able to keep that pace going for the next four miles as well, taking her up to mile 18. After that she went through mile 18 and mile 19 at 7:21 and 7:22 pace. The next couple of miles contained two testing inclines but Katie handled them well to clock a 7:38 and 7:48 but the rigours of the course were beginning to take their toll on her and there were some signs that her pace was starting to waver slightly.

Stu was going at 6 minute mile pace for miles 14, 15 and 16 before clocking a 6:08 for his 17th mile. He then went through the 18th mile in 6:11 before catching Tommy Corbin who had been in second place at mile 19. Going on to complete the 19th mile in 6:15, Stu headed up the hill on the 20th mile with a 6;22 before tackling the next incline in the 21st mile with a 6:17.

On the 22nd mile, Stu posted a 6:10 before clocking a 6;27 for his 23rd mile. That left him with 3.3 miles left.

Similarly to what happened at London, Katie was sick again, this time on the 23rd mile. At least it had happened later in the race this time though so she just needed to push on through for those few miles. She managed to get back going again and showed character to not let the incident prevent her from persevering.

Going through the 24th mile in 6:17, Stu then went on to register a 6:33 for his 25th mile which included another slight incline. Clocking a 6:24 for his 26th mile, Stu just had one last hill to get up before reaching the finish line.

Registering a superb time of 2 hours 40 minutes and 56 seconds, Stu had taken second place overall. The only man who had been able get the better of him was unnattached runner David Newman who crossed the line in 2:35:50. Amazingly, it was his first ever marathon and he wasn’t expecting to win the race or go that quick.

It was a really impressive performance from Stu as well though and he’d beaten some real top quality runners. Chris Wood of Twemlow Track Club also overtook Tommy Corbin in the end and it was him who took third place and first vet in a time of 2:42:39. That was one week on from his 2:33:06 time at London which put Chris in 289th place.

Although he’d perhaps gone out a little too hard in the first half of the race, running with David Newman, Tommy Corbin did well to make it to the line in 2:43:29 which put him in fourth place. Ed Rees of Clapham Chasers was fifth in 2:46:42 and Twemlow Track Club pair Jack Galloway and Jez Bragg finished 6th and 7th in 2:47:26 and 2:49:53 respectively. Jack had also ran London the previous weekend in pretty much the same time as Chris Wood.

Digging deep to put in a good split for her last full mile, Katie then headed up to the finish to get over the line in 3:20:05. That put her in 35th place overall but she’d finished as first female, which was a huge achievement. It was also 11 minutes quicker than the time she posted at London, so all-in-all, it was a great result for Katie.

Her nearest challengers for top female spot were Egdon Heath Harriers pair Victoria Barnett and Josie Wait and they made it round in 3:27:16 and 3:28:44 respectively which put them in 44th and 45th positions.

Steve Adams of Exeter Harriers was 8th in 2:53:28 and he was the first man in over 50. Christopher Wright of Dorset Doddlers took 9th place in 2:54:08 and another unattached runner, James Flynn, took 10th place in 2:54:18.

It was a very good day for Twemlow Track Club as they sealed a win for the fixture in the Men’s First Division when their next three runners arrived in 11th, 12th and 13th. David Jones was 11th in 2:54:19. Then it was Edward Crawley in 2:54:29, followed by Richard Swindlehurst who registered a time of 2:54:57.

Bouncing back from his disappointment at the Newport Marathon, Steve Cook ran 19 miles with the other Twemlow guys but then blew up after that and had to soldier on on his own for the rest of the race. He still managed a sub three though, getting to the line in 2:58:41. which put him in 20th place.

Egdon Heath Harriers pair Corey Stone and Adam Davies were 14th and 15th in 2:54:57 and 2:54:58 which put them in 14th and 15th positions. Mark Savage of Wimborne AC took 16th place in 2:56:04, with Graham Sherwin of Egdon Heath Harriers finishing 17th in 2:56:16.

Adam Colbert of Poole AC was 19th in 2:58:05 and former Bournemouth AC man Matt du Cros ran well to get round in 2:59:51 which put him in 22nd place.

Steve Kellaway of Egdon Heath Harriers was 26th in 3:07:05 and Jason Swyre completed their scoring team in 3:15:35 which put him in 31st place. That was enough to see Egdon Heath Harriers take second place for the race in the Men’s First Division.

Wimborne AC had four men in the top 39 which was enough the seal the win for the them in the Men’s Second Division. They’d won all three fixtures so far this season so were looking like favourites for promotion.

Joanne Page of Oakhampton was fourth female in 3:30:50 which put her in 50th place. Kirstin Hay of Poole AC was the next person over the line in a time of 3:31:24 which made her fifth female.

Vicky Rutter of Littledown Harriers was fifth female in 3:37:23 which put her in 59th position overall.

The race was designated as the County Championships for the Marathon which meant that Katie Gunn was crowned Female County Champion and Stu Nicholas got a medal for finishing as second Male.

David Newman was Male County Champion and Chris Wood got a medal for third Male and another one for first Masters Male. Jez Bragg took the medal for second Masters Male and David Jones got one for third Masters Male in a Twemlow Track Club clean sweep.

Victoria Barnett and Josie Wait got medals for finished second and third Females and another one for taking the first and second Masters Female spots. Kirstin Hay of Poole AC received the medal for third Masters Female.

The Poole Runners women topped the standings in the Ladies’ First Division with Littledown Harriers the only other club to field a full strength team. That meant Poole Runners topped the standings for the season so far with two wins and one second place, with Egdon Heath Harriers in second after a first, a second and a third place finish.

Wimborne AC were the only team in the Ladies’ Second Division to field a full scoring team and they topped of the table for the season so far, with Purbeck Runners in second.

Egdon Heath Harriers topped the standings for the season so far in the Men’s First Division after Poole AC could only manage fourth place at the NDVM. They were now in second place with Twemlow Track Club in third.

Littledown Harriers were the only other club besides Wimborne with four scorers in the Men’s Second Division at the NDVM. They’d finished second in each race of the season so far, meaning they were in second place behind Wimborne AC.

Lytchett Manor Striders topped the standings in the Men’s Third Division at the NDVM, as they had in the other two races of the season so far, with Weymouth St Pauls taking second.

Verwood Runners were the only team to field three runners in the Ladies’ Third Division which meant a second win of the season for them and they topped the standings for the season so far with Bournemouth Joggers in second and Royal Manor of Portland third.

Tommy Corbin was top of the Men’s Individual table for the season so far after the first three fixtures. He’d finished fifth, sixth and now third league scorer, since the NDVM winner David Newman wasn’t running for a league club.

Jez Bragg was second, with Adam Colbert in third and Chris Wood fourth out of those who had run all three races. In the women’s table Jenny Walker Leach of Poole Runners was top out of those who had done all three races. Her teammate Lilian Docherty was second with Susie Palmer of Wimborne AC in third.

Although they’d had some brilliant individual performances, the Bournemouth AC teams were rooted to the bottom of both the Men’s and Ladies’ First Divisions after the first three races of the season. There was still time to rescue their seasons though, with eight races still to go. They would need to get teams out for virtually all remaining races though, the first of which was the May 5 which took place at Canford Heath.

That had proved a popular race amongst the Bournemouth AC fraternity in previous years so there was reason for optimism around the camp. With strong looking men’s and women’s teams in the offering, there was every chance they could come away with a good result. And they certainly needed to now. The pressure was on.

After her two marathons in the space of a week, Katie didn’t allow herself much of a rest before she was back in action at the May 5. Stu doesn’t usually need long to recover from a marathon either and was featuring in the usually hot and always hilly Alton 10 the following weekend. That race was the ninth one out of twelve in the Hampshire Road Race League and was an important one as Bournemouth AC are going for the Men’s league title.