It hadn’t been long since he was walking down the isle ready to tie the knot with his partner Gemma. In fact, knowing him, he probably ran down the isle!!

And with a baby on the way as well, Trev Elkins could have been forgiven for taking his eye off the ball a bit with his running. But he hasn’t. He’s managed to maintain focus and continue training hard throughout and that’s testament to his dedication to the sport.

As he lined up for the Ferndown 5k, Trev had high hopes for the race and what it might bring for him. He was expecting to be challenging for the top positions and was looking for a time in the low 17 minutes.

The event featured a 10k race as well as a 5k race, with the circular route including various different types of terrain, both on and off road.

There had been some rain leading up to the race, up to about an hour before it started which meant there were lots of puddles on the common to negotiate.

The format of the race had the 10k runners going off first, in waves, each one minute apart. Then after they’d all set off, the 5k runners were unleashed.

That meant Trev had a whole field of 10k runners in front of him to pick his way through once he started catching them up. It was tricky as there would sometimes be a cluster of 10k runners and then another group trying to overtake them which left no space on the road for Trev to get through.

Trev was having a good dual and the front of the 5k race with Thomas Crawley, who is a strong 800m runner for Dorset Schools. It was a battle that Trev would ultimately prevail in and reaching the finish in 18 minutes 31 seconds, he claimed victory.

That gave him a 32 second winning margin over Thomas who finished as runner up in  a time of 19:03. Peter Hall took 3rd in 20:25 with Wesley Ibe 4th in 20:37 and Alex Smith 5th in 20:54. Isabelle Hawker took 6th place in 21:12 with Kate Wilkinson coming 7th in a time of 21:34.

Although he was pleased to get the win, Trev wasn’t over the moon about his time as he’d been expecting faster. His average pace of 6:03 would be more akin to a 10k sort of speed than a 5k. Nevertheless though, a win’s a win and it was another trophy in the bag for Trev which is always a good outcome.

The weekend after completing the brutal 32 mile Dartmoor Discovery, Stu Glenister was back in action again in the 10k race. Finishing in a time of 42:45, he took 18th place in the standings. That was in a field of 156 participants.

Stu’s wife Sharon also took part in the 10k race, completing the course in a time of 52:30 which put her in 104th place.

The winner of the 10k was Lewis Clarke who finished in 34:39, with Dave Tindall taking 2nd place in 35:50. Then it was Daniel Pope in 3rd with a time of 37:08, David Wilson 4th in 37:13 and Alan Barnett 5th in 37:39.

Davina McLelland finished as 1st female in a time of 42:07, which put her in 14th place overall. Then it was Vicky Rutter taking 15th place overall in 42:26.

Trev will now turn his focus to the Eastleigh 10k which has now been pushed back to August. The change of race date was handy for him since his baby is due in July so he wouldn’t have been able to do it then. By the time he lines up for that race, he’ll be a new father.