Providing a rare opportunity for some competitive midweek racing to get their teeth into, the Upton Summer Series proved a big hit once again with runners in the Poole and Bournemouth area. With six races on offer over the course of the summer, the athletes were competing for honours in a league type of format where the best four out of six results count towards the final outcome.

The event attracted a few of Bournemouth AC‘s fastest gunslingers in the shape of Rob McTaggart, Seb Crowe and Hugo Richardson. Tag was champion of the Boscombe Winter Series, winning all four races in the midst of his intensive London Marathon training routine. He was pushed all the way though by very fast youngsters Andrew Ingleton of City of Salisbury and Oscar Newbery of Winchester & District.

Hugo was also competing in the Boscombe Winter Series and he really impressed, clocking a fastest time of 16:16 and taking 4th place for the series in the end. Now he was looking to put in another good showing in the Summer Series. He’d been first finisher at Moors Valley parkrun virtually every week over the months leading up to the summer and that was good practice for the Upton Country Park course.

Demonstrating an incredible turn of pace in the Tuesday night training sessions on the track with the road runners group, Seb Crowe was an exciting prospect and looked more than capable of being in contention for the top positions. He’d been battling it out with Stu Nicholas for first place at Bournemouth parkrun most weekends and had chipped his best time down to 16:52.

Although they were expected to up there contesting for the top placings, the Bournemouth AC men weren’t guaranteed to have it all their own way by any stretch of the imagination. Thomas Corbin of Poole AC had been having a tremendous year and was a major threat. He produced a 1:12:30 at the Surrey Half Marathon and went to run just under 2:33 at the London Marathon.

Another runner who had shown a lot of quality so far this year was Lewis Clarke of Poole Runners. He won the Broadstone Quarter at the beginning of the year and managed a 1:12:42 at the Fleet Half Marathon before going on to complete the London Marathon in 2:35:44.

One of the best aspects of the Upton Summer Series though is there are two prizes for each age category and from 40 onwards they are split into five year bands. That really keeps the series alive all the way through the final race, giving runners of all age groups something to aim for and a reason to try their hardest.

The course is a two-lap, 3.5 mile route round Upton Country Park, quite similar to the Upton House parkrun course. It’s all off-road and features some gravel paths and some testing undulations.

There was also a Junior Series which was for 4 to 13 year olds and that also consisted of six races over the a 1 mile distance. Several budding Bournemouth AC young guns took part in that.

The first race of the Senior Summer Series saw a very talented pack of five runners battling it out for supremacy. That included Tag, Hugo and Seb, along with Thomas Corbin and Poole Runners man Dion Garner.

In the end it was Thomas Corbin who came out on top clocking a super-quick time of 19:16, putting his average pace at 5:29. He found an extra gear in the last half a mile to reach the line five seconds ahead of Hugo who claimed a superb 2nd place in 19:23.

Tag wasn’t at his best and had to settle for 3rd place on this occasion in a time of 19:32. Dion Garner had a great run to take 4th place in 19:35, with Seb Crowe fading away a bit in the last mile but taking 5th place in 19:40.

Emily Hilliar of Poole AC was 1st female in exactly 21 minutes, putting her in 12th place overall. Jenny Lee Marshall of Purbeck Runners was the next woman in, coming 17th in 21:59.

Having tried to hang with the lead pack at the beginning of the race, Nathan Mearns paid the price for his fast start and slowed down as the race progressed. Registering a time of 22:09 though, that was still enough to earn him 19th place and 3rd in the 14 to 17 age group.

Bournemouth AC’s fittest and fastest over 60, Sanjai Sharma, was also competing and he completed the course in 23:22. That put him in 39th place overall and 2nd in the 60 to 64 category. Mike Grist of South West Veterans had just outdone him by five seconds.

Esmee Hurst-Atkins finished as 5th female in a time of 24:44 which put her 2nd in the Female 14 to 17 category and 61st overall. Adam Abu-Ghaba was the next Bournemouth AC member in, taking 78th place in a time of 25:38. He was 8th in the Male 14-17 category.

Then, just two places behind Adam was Matilde Blagden who clocked a time of 25:55 and she was 11th fastest female and 4th in the 14 to 17 category. Completing the course in 30:47, Neve East arrived as 51st female and 7th in the 14 to 17 category.

Finley Hurst-Atkins was the fastest Bournemouth AC runner in the Junior race, clocking a time of 5:47 which out him in 7th place and was 1st 10 year old. Edward Davies was 14th in 6:06 and Rueben Holleran was 17th in 6:08. Solly Abu-Ghaba finished 22nd in 6:14 and Aiden Blagden came 30th in 6:32.

Amy Betts was 6th placed girl in 6:34 which put her 34th overall out of 112 runners. Oliver Harrison of Poole AC picked up the in a time of 5:14 and Zara Robinett of Poole Runners was fastest girl in 5:54 which put her in 11th place.

In the second race of the series, Tag was back in form, and he needed to be to finish ahead of Lewis Clarke who was also going for gold. They opened with a ferocious 5:03 first mile and that set the tone for a quicker race than the first one.

It was on the third mile that Tag made the crucial move and opened up an advantage over Lewis and that was enough to see him seal the victory in a time of 18:51. That put his average pace for the run at 5:23 and meant Lewis had to settle for 2nd place even though he’d recorded a very good 18:58.

Dion Garner impressed again, improving on his time from the first race and taking 3rd in 19:18. Seb put in a very fast opening mile at 5:17 but slowed after that as the race progressed, finishing in a time of 19:46. That put him in 4th place. Joe Godden of Poole Runners was again best of the rest, registering a time of 19:58.

Emily Hilliar was 1st female again and finished 12th again a time of 21:19. Jenny-Lee Marshall was 2nd lady again, getting to the line in 22:06 which put her 22nd overall.

Nathan Mearns got round in 22:54 which put him in 27th place overall and 4th in the 14 to 17 category. This time Sanjai managed to edge it in the 60 to 64 battle with Mike Grist, finishing ahead of him by a second. Sanjai’s time was 23:05 which put him in 29th place overall.

Adam Abu-Ghaba completed the course in 25:54 which put him 69th overall and 7th in the 14 to 17 category. Neve East made a massive improvement on her first race effort, clocking a time of 26:48 which made her 18th female and 3rd in the 14 to 17 bracket.

Matilde Blagden made it to the line in 27:58 which made her 23rd female and put her 4th in the 14 to 17 category. That was enough to put her in the top 100 out of 205.

Matching his time from the first race in the Junior Series, Edward Davies clocked a 6:06 to put him 17th overall and he was 2nd 9 year old. Solly Abu-Ghaba improved on his first race time to finish in 6:11 which put him 22nd overall.

Aiden Blagden also produced a faster time that he did in the first leg with a 6:25 putting him 26th overall and 2nd in the 10 year old boy category. Amy Betts finished just after him in 6:30 which put her 27th and 2nd in the 12 year old girl category.

Oliver Harrison equalled his time from the first place, blasting round in 5:14 which got him the win. Zara Robinett was first girl again in exactly 6 minutes which put her 12th overall.

 

 

Tag was forced to roll back the years and find a solid sprint finish to outdo Dion Garner in the third race of the series. He’d gone a few seconds faster than his previous attempt to seal another race win in a time of 18:48. Dion Garner then crossed the line a couple of seconds later.

Lewis Clarke was the next man in, finishing in 19:01 which put him four seconds ahead of Hugo who took 4th in 19:05. That was a huge improvement from his time in the first race. His first mile split was 5:06 and that might go some way toward explaining why it was so much faster. Either way, it was a tremendous run from Hugo and he felt it was one of the toughest races of his life.

Also delivering a stunning performance, Seb followed in a few seconds later to take 5th place in a time of 19:08. Since he’d been training for the track most of the season, so essentially for shorter distances, he was well pleased with what he’d produced, and rightfully so.

Thomas Corbin ran again as well but he wasn’t quite as quick this time, registering a time of 19:36 which put him in 6th place. Lauren Baker-Little of Poole Runners was 1st female this time, finishing in 23:11 which put her 29th overall.

Neve East went faster again, this time racing to a time of 26:27 which made her 14th female and 1st in the 14 to 17 category. That put her 70th overall. A couple of seconds later, Matilde Blagden to take 72nd place in 26:29. That made her 15th female and put her 2nd in the 14 to 17 category.

Riley Austin was in action in the Junior race and he did well to finish in 2nd place, clocking a time of 5:21. Oliver Harrison was the only boy who could better that which meant he’d secured three wins out of three and amazingly, finished in 5:14 in every one of them.

Putting in a much improved display in the third race, Solly Abu-Ghaba registered a time of 5:44 which put him 6th, one place ahead of Finley Hurst-Atkins who repeated his feat of finishing 7th and crossing the line in 5:47, just as he did in the first race.

Edward Davies was a second off the time he produced in the first and second races, recording a 6:07, putting him in 19th place and 2nd in the 9 year old boy category. He’d certainly shown good consistency over the three races.

Completing the course in 6:32, Aiden Blagden secured the same time he did in the first race, which was 6:32. That put him 28th overall out of 89 runners.

Back in action for the fourth edition, Hugo was up with the Thomas Corbin and Lewis Clarke for the first lap. Thomas turned the screw after that and broke away and that led to him picking up his second race win of the series. In the process he’d beaten Tag’s time from the previous round and registered the fastest time of the series so far, with an 18:46. That was an average pace of 5:18.

Lewis Clarke took 2nd in 19:02 leaving Hugo to have to settle for 3rd in 19:17. It was still a decent run from Hugo though and with a lot of sessions on his plate, he was proving that he can consistently produce high level performances, week in week out.

Having not been not quite up with the leaders, Joe Godden was again best of the rest, finishing in 20:23 which put him 4th, just ahead of his Poole Runners teammates David Penwarden and Dave Tindall.

Nathan Mearns was the second Bournemouth AC runner in, clocking a time of 22:55 which put him in 24th place and 4th in the 14 to 17 bracket.

Taking 15th place on the overall leader-board, Emily Hilliar picked up her third win in the series, edging closer to the series victory with her time of 21:23. Jenny Lee-Marshall was again 2nd lady and 20th overall in a time of 22:15, with Lauren Baker-Little taking 3rd in 23:32 which put her 33rd overall.

Matilde Blagden was 11th placed female and 2nd in the 14 to 17 category with her time of 26:05, which put her 62nd overall. She was the only other BAC member to feature in the Senior race.

The Junior race brought the exact same result as the previous round, with Oliver Harrison finishing 1st, this time in a slightly quicker time of 5:12. Riley Austin took 2nd again in 5:20 and it was also the same runner in 3rd and 4th positions, with Noah Banwell of Poole Runners taking 3rd and Ewan Eadie of Wimborne placing 4th.

That meant that with four wins out of four, Oliver Harrison was the first person to wrap up the series victory and his dominance of the Junior division was clear for all to see.

Edward Davies managed his fastest time of the series so far in 6:01 which put him 12th. Solly Abu-Ghaba couldn’t match his magnificent effort in the previous race, getting round in 6:18 which put him 23rd.

Aiden Blagden clocked his quickest time of the series so far though, finishing 26th in 6:22. Amy Betts also registered her fastest time yet, reaching the line in 6:26 which put her 28th overall and she was 3rd placed girl.

Completing the course in exactly 8 minutes, Jude Austin finished 61st overall and was 6th in the 10 year old boy category.

The fifth race of the series saw an opportunity for Tag to put his fourth appearance on the board. That meant he could potentially stake his claim for the series victory. That would be dependent on what Thomas Corbin produced as well though.

Even though the conditions were atrocious, with the course being very wet and muddy, Tag was determined the lay down a marker and prove himself to be superior athlete of the event.

Feeling really strong on the day, he blasted out a 5:05 for his first mile before adding a 5:19 and a 5:21 and finishing with a final half a mile at 5:26 pace. That put his time at the mightily impressive 18:34 which was the fastest time of the series so far and a course PB for Tag.

No one else could live with that but Lewis Clarke did well to register a course PB of his own, taking 2nd place in 18:47. Seb Crowe was back in the fold for this one and he was battling it out with Thomas Corbin for 3rd place.

In the end it was Seb who prevailed, reaching the line in 19:20 which was his second fastest effort of the series. Thomas arrived seven seconds later to take 4th place in 19:27. What was significant about that was that it had sealed the series victory for Tag.

With three wins and one 3rd place, Thomas could no longer equal that record, even if he won the last race. If Thomas had finished 3rd, that would have meant Tag would have had to run in the last race to seal the series win.

Dion Garner finished 5th in 20:12, with his Poole Runners teammates Dave Tindall and Joe Godden taking 6th and 7th. That was enough to seal the team win in the series for Poole Runners.

Emily Hilliar confirmed her series victory with her fourth win, completing the course in 21:18 which put her in 10th place overall. Kate Wilkinson of Poole Runners was 2nd female and 29th overall in 23:09 and her teammate Lauren Baker-Little was next over the line in 23:22.

Competing in her second race of the series, Esmee Hurst-Atkins claimed 56th place and was 8th fastest female with her time of 25:18 and that put her 2nd in the female 14 to 16 category.

Having already wrapped up the Junior series win, Oliver Harrison took a day off in race five, presenting someone else with the chance to take their moment to shine. Poole Runners star Noah Banwell did that, getting to the line in 5:26 which put him 12 seconds ahead of his teammate Evan Robinett who was 2nd in 5:38.

In fact, Poole Runners boys occupied the first five places in the race before Finley Hurst-Atkins arrived to seal 6th position in 5:52. That put him 1st in the 10 year old boy category.

Having done every race of the series so far, Edward Davies finished 12th in a time of 6:08, making him 3rd 9 year old boy. He’d been very consistent with his times throughout the series and did very well on this occasion considering the conditions weren’t as good.

Finishing as 3rd placed girl and 18th overall, Amy Betts clocked a time of 6:37 in her fourth race of the series. Again, she’d shown good consistency with her times.

Needing to compete in the final race of the series to register his fourth result, Hugo also had an opportunity to snatch the 14 to 17 category win away from Seb, who was currently occupying that position.

Seb was running as well and he bolted out of the blocks with an outrageously quick first kilometre, dragging the rest of the group along with him. He was well under five minute mile pace for the first third of the mile at least.

Unfortunately he couldn’t sustain it though and his pace fell away about 1.4 miles in. He then got dropped from the lead group and decided there wasn’t much point in carrying on so he opted to bail out. It didn’t really make much difference to the overall result anyway as he’d already sealed the runner up spot in the 14 to 17 category.

Registering a super quick first mile at 5:03, Hugo then followed it up with a 5:18 for his second mile. He was in lead at that point but Thomas Corbin managed to claw his way back on the third mile and wrestle it away from Hugo.

Getting to the line in 18:39, Thomas had managed to record the second quickest time of the series and that sealed 2nd place in the series for him, relegating Lewis Clarke to 3rd.

Nailing his Summer Series PB and taking a superb 2nd place, Hugo crossed the line 10 seconds later to record a time of 18:49. That just edged him ahead of Dion Garner who took 3rd place in 18:51.

It was great to end the series on a high for Hugo and in terms of performances, he had certainly saved his best till last. That put him 4th for the series as a whole and won him 1st prize in the 14 to 17 category. Dion Garner finished 5th for the series and Seb was 6th.

Getting his fourth run of the series on the board, Nathan Mearns got round in 22:30 which put him in 18th place overall and 3rd in the 14 to 17 category. That put him 26th in the series as a whole and 5th in the Male 14 to 17 category.

Completing her third race of the series, Esmee Hurst-Atkins recorded a time of 25:49 which put her 1st in the Female 14 to 17 category and made her 11th fastest female.

After completing the first four races of the series, Matilde Blagden just missed out a prize, finishing 3rd in the Female 14 to 17 category. She was 15th place female overall for the series and 82nd overall.

Although she’d already wrapped up the series win, Emily Hilliar won her fifth race of the series in a time of 21:26, which put her 11th overall. Jenny-Lee Marshall came in 2nd female in 22:15 which put her 17th overall and Lauren Baker-Little was 3rd lady in 23:28 which put her 29th in the standings.

That was also how they were positioned for the series as a whole, with Jenny-Lee Marshall finishing as runner up behind Emily and Lauren Baker-Little taking 3rd.

Oliver Harrison was back for the final race of the Junior series and he recorded his fifth win of the season, improving on his fastest time by one further second, posting a 5:11.

Noah Banwell took 2nd in 5:33 and Finley Hurst-Atkins nailed his quickest time of the series to take 3rd position in 5:37. That put him 6th for the series as a whole and he was the top 10 year old boy in the standings.

Edward Davies also ended his series on a high, recording his fastest time with a 5:58 putting him in 10th position and he was 1st in the 9 year old boy category. He’d run all six races of the series and came 14th in the overall standings for the series and was 3rd in the 9 year old boy category.

Also finishing the series with her fastest time, Amy Betts made it to the line in 6:22 which put her in 21st place and 4th out of the girls. That meant in the series as a whole, she’d finished 4th out of the girls and 2nd in the 12 year old category.

Sealing her fourth win of the series, in the final showdown, Zara Robinett finished 8th overall in the race in a time of 5:54, with Amelia Drew of Poole AC finishing as 2nd girl and 15th overall in 6:04. Grace Harrison of Poole Runners was 3rd in 6:11 which put her 17th overall in the race. That was exactly how it finished in the final standings for the series, with Zara topping the chart, Amelia in 2nd and Grace in 3rd.

Having competed in the first four races of the series, Solly Abu-Ghaba came 22nd overall and 3rd 12 year old boy. Aiden Blagden also completed the first four races and he was placed 31st overall and 5th in the 10 year old boy category.

In terms of the team competition for the Senior series, Poole Runners won both the Male and the Female prizes, each with five wins and 2nd place out of the six fixtures.

It had been an extremely competitive Upton Summer Series this year and standard of the racing had been incredibly high at the sharp end of the field. It was great to see some of Dorset’s top talents battling it out for supremacy on a regular basis over the course of the summer and it made for a truly wonderful spectacle.

Thanks to Phil Benham, Ken Hewitt and Reel Memories for capturing all the action beautifully between them across the six fixtures and of course, huge plaudits to Poole Runners for organising and hosting the whole shebang.

The weekend after the last race in the series, the top three men in the standings – Tag, Thomas Corbin and Lewis Clarke – had all been selected to run for Dorset in the Langley Burrell 10k which was the South West Inter Counties Championships. Given the performances they’d put in the Upton Summer Series, that team was looking rather tasty and it would be interesting to see how they fared against the other counties in the region.