Regular readers of runABC South news reports will know we pride ourselves on being topical with our race reports, so the photo and headline above might need some further explanation.

The Christchurch Christmas 10K has been a popular festive event since 1991 when the winners were Larry Austin (Bournemouth AC, 30:17) and Ann Rayner (Dorchester AC, 37:57). The race has attracted some of the most talented athletes in the country and the impressive event records stand at 30:02 to four-time winner Lee Rodriguez (New Forest Runners, 2001) and 33:38 by GB international Liz Yelling (Bedford & County AC, 2010) in her second victory.

Those superb times remain in the race history but the original course was changed in 2013 and the new best times set that year were 31:37 (Jacek Cieluszecki, Bournemouth AC) and 36:57 by the event's most successful athlete, Kath Bailey (Winchester AC) who took the top spot an astonishing nine times between 1993 and 2017!

And so we come to the 2022 race – delayed by six weeks due to extremely icy road conditions – which finally went ahead with 183 finishers on Sunday 22 January 2023. M40 Phil Wylie (Western Tempo, 30:50) can claim a 'new course' course record as he finished with more than a minute in hand over Rob McTaggart (Bournemouth AC, 32:01) and James Phillips (Lymington Tri Club, 32:33).

The women's top trio were W35 Vicki Ingham (Poole Runners, 35:57), W35 Lauren Baker-Little (Poole Runners, 38:43) and W45 Emma Caplan (Bournemouth AC, 39:12) who were among the 30 athletes who beat 40 minutes on chip timing. The final finisher was home in 1:23:42. Many of the competitors sported festive attire and we assume the free Christmas puddings were still in dates!

The Christchurch Christmas 10K is promoted by the local Christchurch Runners club and is based at East Christchurch Sports and Social Club. The fast, rural course heads out to South Bockhampton with Lower Waterditch Ford to navigate at two points.

Race results are available via runABC South race listing here.

Full event details are at the Christchurch Christmas 10K website here.

Image courtesy Charles Witton Photography via Christchurch Runners