Bournemouth Rotary Club Quarter Marathon

Put off travelling to Brighton by the Bank holiday weather we needed a race to do this weekend, and found the perfect one in this fairly local quarter marathon. We had never done this distance before this year, and have now done two.

Its basically a 10k with an extra 550 metres, which in this case were mostly downhill. The weather looked a bit dodgy, but the rain actually held off until after the race, and the wind was not strong enough to be much of a factor. We started on the seafront a couple of hundred yards to the east of Boscombe pier and ran east along the seafront.

After the first 10 or so fast men had raced off I found myself at the back of a small pack of 4 runners, at least 2 of which were MV2s (over 50) like me. I hung on behind them until we came up off the seafront after the first 2 miles. Then dredged up enough energy to take the lead as we ran around the residential streets for a couple of miles before returning to Boscombe along the clifftop road. The lead runner in the chasing pack caught me up with over a mile to the finish and pushed me really hard as we ran almost shoulder to shoulder before the final downhill stretch where I was able to find a last vestige of remaining energy to pull away back down past the pier and then held on for a final "sprint" to the line. Very satisfying to finish like that - it could have gone the other way if he had overtaken me strongly at 5 miles Iwould probably have let him go. As it was, I had finished first in age-group, and a new PB by nearly a minute - very chuffed!

I received my goody bag and jogged back to the pier where Lin soon appeared, also faster than last time, and a good 4th position in a competitive ladies field.

Lin's bit:-

This race was just what our training called for to sharpen us up after a series of long, steady training runs.  The route was fairly flat with just one or two slight inclines and therefore no excuse for the pace to drop off.  However after a fast first mile (6.29) inevitably I did slow down as I concentrated grimly on trying to keep up with a female runner some 50m or so ahead of me.  I did start to reel her in but at mile 5 I suddenly started feeling sick to the point where I thought I might have to stop and throw up - what was that about?!!  Fortunately the feeling soon passed but so had any chance of catching up with my rival so I settled on trying to maintain a good pace.  I was hoping to get under 44 minutes but as I sprinted down the hill and turned back along the coast (with shouts of encouragement from Martin) I could see the clock at the finishing line and there was no way I could attain my goal - eventually crossing the line in 44.17.
Martin had clocked an excellent 40.35 (unofficial time) and was told that he finished 12th although the results have not been published yet.  Another great result for him which was rewarded by a bottle of champagne at the prize giving. My prize was one of the more unusual I have received - a voucher for an all day breakfast at "Bistro on the Beach" but only valid for Wednesday - Friday during April therefore ensuring that it will never be claimed!