North Dorset Village Marathon – 3^rd May 2009

This is the first running of this race and as the only marathon currently in Dorset it was to be the Dorset County Championships too. Organised by Gillingham Trotters, numbers were restricted to 100 so the entries filled up quickly despite it being the week after the London marathon. However there was also a relay option too so as well as the eight Wimborne runners in the marathon there was a ladies relay team taking part.

Registration went like clockwork and pre-race was more like a social occasion with so many Wimborne runners and many familiar faces from other clubs. We were led to the start in Sturminster Newton by the town crier. The weather felt chilly at the start at 8.30 but we knew it would warm up later on, but hopefully not as hot as London the week before.

From the start we ran uphill on the hill familiar to those doing the ‘Stur Half’ when we would normally be running down it to the finish. The route consisted of one large loop which would pass through several of Dorset’s finest villages before finishing back in Sturminster.

Craig Dixon and I had decided to try and run an even pace as we had at London but not so fast, as we knew the course would be harder. As we got to the first mile marker we realised we were going too fast for our projected pace but felt comfortable as we were also running with Peter Lemon and Nicki Roe. We could still see Anthony Clark and Jerry Shield ahead so tried to concentrate on an even pace. The course undulated for a bit as it wound through Hinton St Mary, Stalbridge and out into the Dorset countryside. The sun came out and it was truly a nice day to be out with superb scenery. At every mile we checked our pace, which was fairly even, but looked back at about 6 miles to see that Peter and Nicki had dropped back a bit. We were still going faster than we had planned and hoped that the pace wouldn’t return to haunt us.

Water stations were regular (about every 3 miles or so) and were welcome sights as the temperature rose. We received a boost of support from the ladies (and Tim Box) at the relay changeover point and despite the hills we were still going strong. A slight hitch occurred at the 20k drinks stop when we did not see the special drinks table where Craig had left some gels so he had to plod on without them. We got to the halfway point at 3.10-3.15 pace which was well inside our 3.30-3.45 plan but still felt OK. Indeed we carried on at the same pace for another three or four miles quite comfortably but the heat and last weeks exertions started to take their toll on both of us and our optimism started to disappear along with the pace. We started to slow up slightly, but then with sharp hills at about 19 and 21 miles they made sure we slowed.

Despite our slackening of pace we were not overtaken by the deluge of runners as we expected and although we were running slower we carried on at a steady pace. We had been slightly amused by Nicki asking us where Anthony was at about 20 miles, but assumed he was so far ahead they had missed him. At about 22/23 miles Craig turned to me and said, ‘I am not enjoying this anymore!’ As I was struggling myself I could not disagree, it was becoming hard work. Drinks stations were now very welcome and I found that I was unable to take on as much fluid as I wanted in time. The weather had warmed up a lot and I thought a few people might suffer in the heat.

The course carried on through several small villages and undulated until it started to flatten out before turning onto a gravelled, unused railway track for the last two miles to the finish. I actually felt better running on this surface and we picked up the pace a little to cross the line together just under three and a half hours. We were happy with our time, but not so happy at the way we had run it when we should have paced it more evenly, especially with another marathon in our legs from the week before.

Overall it was a superb race, one I can recommend to anyone. The scenery was as good as anything Dorset can offer, the organisation led by Ines and the Trotters was faultless and despite the empty roads there was plenty of Wimborne support from spectators and the relay team. There was also a medal and a well-stocked goody bag at the finish.

The support at the finish was excellent for the club, particularly as everyone waited around for each other. It was good to see Ian Kennedy back on the marathon trail again with his best time for several injury plagued years (despite his advanced years!) and Anthony was not happy with the distance so decided to make it an ‘ultra’ and banged in a couple of extra miles on his way round after a navigational error!

Well done to the ladies relay team who won their event (Julie’s prediction that she only ever competes to win was true!). Also congratulations to Jerry for being 3^rd Dorset runner and first Vet. Well done too to the Wimborne men who won the team event. Thanks too to Craig for your company throughout despite you claiming the 3^rd spot in the winning men’s team on an alphabetical basis ahead of me. I hope that beer tasted good!

Andy Horsley

Wimborne results from North Dorset Village Marathon

Marathon – Wimborne 1st men’s team*

4 – Jerry Shield – 2:59:12*

11 – Peter Wood – 3:14:38*

20 – Craig Dixon – 3:28:27*

21 – Andy Horsley – 3:28:27

26 – Steve Guy – 3:35:32

27 – Anthony Clark – 3:35:52

30 – Pete Lemon – 3:37:35

44 – Ian Kennedy – 3:50:57

Marathon Relay – Wimborne 1^st  Ladies team

Nicki Roe (11.6km) – 54:44

Claire Newby (8.2km) – 49:50

Julie Mead (11.4km) – 1:02:28

Julie Maskell (11km) –  00:54:44

Total team time 3:41:46