It’s an event that Bournemouth AC runners have had success in before, with Rob McTaggart winning the Half Marathon in 2022 despite being taken the wrong way by the lead bike at one point.

A dominant display from Tag saw him win the 10k last year by over three minutes. Stu Nicholas was second in the Marathon that day as well in a time of 2:41:32.

In this year’s Garmin New Forest Marathon, Arthur Riley was looking to go the full distance. David Crowther was competing in the 10k and Solly Abu-Ghaba was in action in the 5k.

It’s a multi terrain course that is described on the website as being flat and fast. It isn’t really very flat though. There are a lot of undulations in it, with the elevation gain being close to 1,000ft.

In his Bournemouth AC debut, Arthur Riley had shown his pedigree by recording a time of 35:44 at the Lordshill 10k in July. He was running the New Forest Marathon with his brother Fergus.

They were getting through most of their miles at between 6:30 and 6:45 pace. It was only really when the mile had a significant hill in it that they went over 6:45 for the split.

Probably the toughest section of the race was miles 18 to 19 when there was quite a steep incline. It was a strong effort from the Riley brothers from that point on though and they were still under 7 minute mile pace, even on the last couple of miles.

Completing the course in a time of 2 hours 54 minutes and 8 seconds, Arthur and Fergus finished 6th and 7th out of a field of 733. It was an excellent run from Arthur and one had had every reason to be really pleased with. The fact his brother Fergus was also able to run that pace shows what a talented family they must be.

The winner of the race was Peter Rowat in 2:45:06, with Andrew Moreton of Elmbridge RRC taking second place in 2:47:53. Sam Smout of Mornington Chasers took third in 2:48:26.

Claire Keith was first female and case 37th overall in a time of 3:11:31. Abi Jacobs of Clapham Chasers was 2nd in 3:15:20 which put her in 44th place.

Doing pretty well in the 10k race, David Crowther finished 27th out of 781 in a time of 45:54. That put him 10th out of 54 in the M40 category. His average pace for the run was 7:23 per mile.

David clocked a time of 45:33 at the Totton 10k so his time at the New Forest Marathon 10k was probably the equivalent of that if not better, considering that it was a mostly trail route and still fairly undulating.

Callum Abberley of Burton AC won the 10k race in 35:57 which put him a long way clear of the rest of the field. Russ Timms was second in 39:43 and Simon Boon was the only other man to get in in under 40 minutes, taking third in 39:40.

Jenine Timms was first female in a time of 44:21 which out her 17th overall. The second placed lady, Sharon Stewart finished just behind David Crowther in exactly 46 minutes.

Racing in every New Forest Marathon 5k since 2019, Solly Abu-Ghaba clocked his fastest time yet of 22:11 in last year’s event. He’s been getting progressively faster each time and he just about managed to continue that trend this year, crossing the line in a time of 22:10. That put him in 11th place in the overall standings out 302 finishers.

Poole AC star Jamie Grose won the 5k race at a canter, recording a time of 17:18. That put him close to two minutes ahead of his nearest challenger. It was actually the battle for second place where the action was happening in that race. That was also the fight for first female between Erin Wells of Poole AC and Erin Willmers of Winchester Running Club.

In the end it was Erin Willmers who shaded it in a time of 19:05, with Erin Wells, who often trains with the Bournemouth AC road runners crossing the line in 19:10.

Luke Martin was on pacing duties in the Half Marthon race, pacing Emilia round to the sub two hour time that she was hoping for. In fact they did it quite comfortably in the end, finishing in 1:55:10 which put them 449th and 450th overall.

The Half Marathon was won by Alex Young of Romsey Road Runners in a time of 1:14:11 with Kevin Nelson taking second in 1:15:54. Ben Brereton of Newcastle (Staffs) AC was third in 1:16:40.

Hannah Froud was first female and 8th overall in a time of 1:22:45. Laura Hancock of South London Harriers was second female and 13th overall in a time of 1:23:59.

Arthur Riley and David Crowther were both in attendance at the Run Bournemouth event next, with David featuring in the 10k and Arthur competing in the Half Marathon.

All the races Arthur does at the moment are part of a bigger picture as he is preparing to tacked the Arc of Attrition in January. That is an extremely challenging 100 mile race. The route for that is along the South West Coast Path in the Cornwall area and incorporates 4,900m of elevation.

Arthur will be tackling that one with his brother Fergus and his other brother as well. It’s quite rare to find three brothers of the sort of standard they are so it will be interesting to see how they get on in that one. They’ll be putting in some good long training runs and clocking quite a lot of mileage before the big day comes around and most importantly, they’ll be practicing running on coastal trails at nights. Being proficient at that will probably be the key to success at the Arc of Attrition.