Rain failed to deter club members from turning out in force for the 1020 Dick Jolly Memorial Winter Road Run on Sunday 15 February 2026 – a hardy trio of Roger Toyne, Ian Hanstead and new member Chris Southgate even dusted off their classic MGB GTs to splash through the puddles alongside those in more modern MGs and road cars.
While not everyone chose to follow the route devised by Pip and Ursula Bonner (many deciding to leave this until better weather), a total of 55 diners eventually sat down for lunch at the Stocks Inn.
Among those taking part was Adrian Mullins who reports on the day . . .
‘The weather was just the sort of weather for the winter run. When we arrived at Hamworthy the heavens had opened and the rain looked set for the day. The participants slowly started arriving and soon there were many couples collecting their route guides from Pip and Ursula who had checked the route the day before.
Ursula did advise us there was one section that might be problematic and had rewritten the instructions the night before to include a warning of the areas they thought might be difficult.
The run itself started by skirting Bournemouth International Airport and making its way towards Alderholt. Some of the roads had obviously been flooded earlier as we saw two cars that had unfortunately lost the road and gone into the hedges.
At 22 miles we came on to the spot we had been warned about. It was flooded completely over the road and seemed to go for about 100 metres so we approached cautiously. The water was about 8 inches deep and deserved being treated with caution. Rita’s MG ZR sailed through magnificently
We passed through Holt Common which is one of the largest areas of lowland heathland in Dorset and is one of the few places in Britain where all six native reptile species occur although they were all tucked up when we went by.
We arrived at The Stocks Inn and were warmly welcomed by the helpful and friendly staff. Soon we were all seated waiting to be fed. It took a time as there were quite a few of us. The wait was definitely worth it as the food was excellent. A great choice of pub
Thanks to Ursula and Pip for their work on the run. We shall certainly be doing it in the sunshine as the route merits a rerun.’