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"The ban made me stronger" says Stur Half winner McTaggart

Gleaming Rob McTaggart broke the tape at the Sturminster Half Marathon; his overall victory helping Bournemouth AC win the 2009 Dorset League with four races remaining. Stepping up from recent 1500m and 3000m training to fill a void left by the absent Way, Fox, Mosley and Hargreaves, a new best over 21000m is a somewhat remarkable achievement.

As the 23-year-old broke his last remaining challenger at nine miles, there was a sense of satisfaction, even from the would-be race winner, that McTaggart had not been lost to a sport in which he not only shows pure talent, but is clearly enthused by.

Rob was severely taken to task by the athletics authorities, for comments made on a social networking webpage and as a result served a ban in excess of 500 days. It would have been easy for the then 21-year-old to walk away there and then and find another focus in life. But supported by his team mates combined with the strong desire to reach his potential, Rob vowed to come back a stronger runner.

In March this year that ambition was realised with a new best over 10k at Eastleigh. In June it was time to repay the faith shown by his club in a return to Dorset League competition at the Poole 10k at which he was Bournemouth’s first scorer. Finishing second overall at the Portland Ten helped put Bournemouth on the brink of clinching the title and it seems only fitting that it was Rob McTaggart who led the team home in the title clinching race completing a hat-trick of solid road performances for his team.

The race itself was not blessed with fast times, but it didn’t have to be. The BAC ‘bus’, driven by McTaggart, Jon Sharkey and Ian Habgood took a large group through the opening miles before dropping the runners one by one. Early attacks by Ben Morley and Teddy Powell were swept up with ruthless efficiency while Nigel Rogerson, Ian Smith, Mark Pittaway, Paul Rose and finally Mike Grist, fell away leaving the BAC trio to battle out the podium positions.

All three had raced the previous day with McTaggart and Sharkey competing for Bournemouth’s British League athletics team at Crawley in the afternoon while Habgood raced, and won, a Saturday evening (!!) five miler. Unsurprisingly therefore, Ian was the first to go at seven miles. McTaggart then did the damage between nine and eleven miles and although Sharkey then held the gap to the finish, it was not enough to get back into the race.

Steve Way’s race video (he assures us he’ll be competing again soon!) should be available on Wednesday evening. The club championship has been updated with the Stur results.

Sturminster Half Marathon, BAC results

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