Bournemouth benefit in Boscombe 10K
Local club in team and individual successes at Kings Park
Bournemouth Joggers Ladies Running Club don't take themselves too seriously, as the photo above conveys! However, when it comes to organising the Boscombe 10K they put on a top-quality event that starts and finishes on the running track at Kings Park Athletics Stadium.
The latest edition was on Sunday (27th November) and despite the gloomy weather there were nearly 450 finishers in around 90 minutes and over 300 were inside 60 minutes on an undulating course that features a particularly attractive loop around Queen's Park Golf Course.
The race winner was the unattached athlete Naoto Kato who finished in 34:42 with 42 seconds to spare from Poole Runners' Luke Terry (35:24). Third place went to the first veteran Andrew Ridley (M50, 35:49) who represents Veterans AC.
W45 Emma Caplan (Bournemouth AC, 39:29) was the first female and one of 22 athletes to beat 40 minutes on chip timing. The runners-up in the women's race were Hannah Martyn (Egdon Heath Harriers, 41:11) and W35 Susanna Hill (unattached, 42:17).
With the host club fully stretched in promoting the race – those inflatable outfits might have been too much of a handicap anyway – the winning teams were both from Bournemouth AC. Adrian James, Richard Brawn and Harry Dolman for the men while Emma Caplan, Harriet Slade and Jolanta Dewerenda took the women's awards.
Bournemouth Joggers Ladies Running Club provides a generous prize list with awards for age groups right up to 65+ women and 70+ men which were won by Sarah Barrett (Poole Runners, 51:51 and Christopher Miller (Purbeck Runners, 46:07).
The race action extended to a young athletes' Fun Run won by Bournemouth AC prospects Adam Abu-Ghaba (under-15, 6:20) and Alanna Caplan (under-10, 7:01).
The event and awards were made possible by the generous sponsorship of Alexandra Sports, Southbourne Park Garage, and Cheddar Natural Spring Water. The race was held in support of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity and In Touch (helping the homeless and those in need).
Results are available via runABC South race listing here
Image courtesy Bournemouth Joggers Ladies Running Club website gallery