Glow on the beach!

Race report:  Glow in The Park, Knoll Beach, Studland, Dorset - February 7, 2014

After the recent spell of terribly wet weather necessitated the postponement of the Kingston Lacy Glow in the Park run on two separate occasions Glow in the Park event organisers votwo worked hard with the National Trust in the last week to quickly come up with an alternative Dorset venue that could accommodate the event scheduled for Friday February 7th.

In the end Knoll Beach at Studland presented itself as a great ‘all weather’ alternative site and a challenging course was arranged that took in both the beachfront and adjoining sand dunes. On the night itself over 150 runners took part in the 1 lap 5km and 2 lap 10km events that were staged in a very neatly timed weather window between the storms that have been battering the SW of England for several days. The runners had a great time flying down the beach on the outward leg with a handy tailwind at their backs before battling back through the more technical sand dunes, into a headwind to return to the start/finish area located in the Knoll beach car park. Live results were streamed to the web by Race Timing Systems and the winners of both races were presented with superb quality Trail Running head torches from Silva, one of the series sponsors.

Emma Wright, Operations manager for the National Trust at Studland said “It’s been a difficult week for the coastline here and it’s really good to have pulled this event off in the midst of it all. It was very exciting to see the beach used in this way and the lights snaking away into the distance as the runners set off were quite a spectacle. The runners showed great determination and seemed to have a fantastic time. All in all it was a very successful event.”

At the sharp end of the competition Kevin Green won comfortably in the 10km (41:25) with Florence Mella taking the women’s race in 47:06.

The 5km was won in 20:45 by Bournemouth AC’s Rob McTaggart and Karen Nuttall was victorious in the ladies in 29:25.

A special mention is definitely in order for the winning family team – the O’Connors from Poole who were led home by their daughter, young Serena O’Connor who managed to dip under the 50 minute barrier; a spectacular time for a junior girl on a very tough course indeed!

The next scheduled event in the Glow in the Park Series is in Southampton on February 19th starting at 19:30. Details for Southampton online here.

Men's 10km results

Women's 10km results

Men's 5km results

Women's 5km results

Click here for full results