Round the Rock 10K: 7th July 2024.

Entries are now open for the Royal Manor Portland of Athletics Club “Round the Rock 10K”, which this year, is one of the twelve road running races selected in The Dorset Road Race League (DRRL).

Don’t delay in clicking this link: Timing Monkey :: Round The Rock 10k 2024, which will direct you to the registration page and provide further information about the race. As this is a DRRL event, it is expected to sell out, so get registered now, in order to secure your entry.

The idea for the race was proposed during a Royal Manor of Portland Athletic Club RMPAC) Committee Meeting in 2007. Race organiser Bill Hicks said, “I was going to suggest a 10K race to celebrate the club Silver Jubilee in 2008.”

The committee then organised the inaugural race as the “Silver Jubilee 10K” in 2008 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the founding of RMPAC in 1983. As many ex-club members as possible were contacted and invited to participate. The race was then started by two of RMPAC’s founding members: Dave Sanderson and Eddie French, who also awarded the prizes. 

The race was run over the already measured course, which had been used twice for the Southwest Vets 10K Championship race. Following this event, it was then decided to hold a 10K event annually. Club members proposed a wide variety of names for the race, where the winner turned out to be “The Round the Rock 10K”.

Bill Hicks put the name forward along with 26 additional proposals from other members. The race took place on a Saturday evening in May, where numbers remained low until the event was switched to a Sunday morning in August. Additionally, as the event was going to be a DRRL race for the first time, numbers increased. The DRRL allows for runners to compete in a series of races across the country, ranging in different distances, from five miles to marathons.

In 2020, Covid put a halt to the race, and it was then decided post Covid that RMPAC would only hold one event per year.  In July 2022 and 2023, the chosen event was the Portland 10 which is a 10-mile race.  When the DRRL asked RMPAC if they could hold a 10K event in 2024, the club decided to hold the Round the Rock 10K event in July, instead of the Portland 10.

Why not combine a sight-seeing tour of the beautiful Isle of Portland, with the ever-growing popular sport of running? The route, whilst undulating, takes in breath-taking sea views, as you race around the top of the island, in a figure of eight.