Man on stag do wins half marathon

Ollie Garrod (centre) won the race even though he "wasn't feeling particularly up for it"

A man has won a half marathon while visiting friends for a stag do.

Elite runner Ollie Garrod, from Surrey, said he avoided alcohol throughout the stag weekend in Bournemouth but was suffering from the effects of two "very late nights".

He said he had no more than five hours' sleep before winning the annual race on Sunday.

The ultra-marathon runner said: "I thought, well, why not? Even though I wasn't feeling particularly up for it, I may as well chuck myself in a race."

Mr Garrod, who is training for the ultra-marathon world championships in November, won in a time of just over 70 minutes - more than a minute ahead of his closest rival.

He said: "It was such a beautiful day, it seemed crazy not to go out and enjoy that. And I needed to get a decent tempo hit in anyway."

The ultrarunner said he took the lead from eventual runner-up Jaymee Domoney on a "really horrible hill" after about eight miles.

'Tough by the end'

He said: "I managed to put my foot down a little bit there and sneak away.

"Then I had a bit of a nightmare... They have some gels and I thought that will be a great pick-me-up.

"I managed to drop two of them, had to go back and pick up another one and managed to drop that again, so... he came right back on my tail.

"It was tough by the end. I was working hard by about mile 10."

Mr Garrod's final time was 1:10:01, with Mr Domoney finishing in 01:11:18.

The race was part of the annual Run Bournemouth event that took place across the weekend.

It also included a 10k race on the Sunday, as well as a series of shorter distance races on the Saturday.