Wrexham Half Marathon

Last week eight members of Newport and District Running Club travelled to
Wrexham in Wales to take part in their half marathon race. The weather was
kind for all the entrants as they ran the 13.1 miles over the flat, rural
course.
Steve Tudor was first home for the club in his first race of this type for
six years and did extremely well to cross the line in 92nd place in 1h 26m
31s. This was also good enough to gain him 7th place in the over 50's
category.
Sandy Mackenzie also had a good run to achieve a personal best time of 1h
29m 18s and 130th position. This was a full 18 minutes off his previous
best time and a tremendous achievement.
Lindsey Ferguson also produced a personal best time by fouteen minutes to
be fourth lady home in 1h 32m 05s.
Steve Fowles had a good run in 175th to complete the course in 1h 33m 35s
with Kevin Bright 251st in 1h39m 19s. Julian Withers was doing well up to
ten miles, but paid for a quick early pace and slowed a little over the
last few miles to finish 266th in 1h 40m 34s.
Helen MacDonald Jones did well to be eighth in her category, finishing the
event in 1h 51m 31s and completing the club line up was Heather Hogan, who
deserves special mention as she ran five miles before the race in order to
keep up her mileage for her marathon training, and still managed to finish
in 2h 4m 21s.
Steve Tudor, Sandy Mackenzie, Lindsay Ferguson, Kevin Bright and Julian
Withers will also be undertaking the London Marathon in April and we shall
be following their progress closely in the build up to that occasion.

New Year

Members of Newport and District Running Club have already started their
New Year by participating in several races.

Ian Atkinson ran the Helsby Four Villages half Marathon along with over
1500 others and did well to complete the course in 1hr 36m 08s and gain
410th place. This also served as good training for his attempt at the
London Marathon in April.

Last Sunday, Helen MacDonald-Jones took part in one of the toughest races
in the fell running calendar when she ran the 11.5 miles and 5000feet of
ascent in the Long Mynd Valleys race from Church Stretton. Conditions were
good on the day for the 166 runners and Helen did well to finish second in
her category, and even with a slight navigational error which lost her a
little time, she completed the course in 2hrs 55mins.

At the same time Mark Deighton and John Brown travelled to Stourbridge for
the ten plus miles of the Stourbridge Stagger, a multi terrain race with
the route taking runners over fields, through woods and over a few rolling
hills.
The frost kept the going firm and the bright sun shone on the 470 athletes
as they kept up their efforts towards the finish line.
Mark Deighton kept up a steady pace to complete the event in 132nd
position in a time of 1hr 22m 50s. John Brown also did well in his over
60's age group to come in 332nd in 1hr 39m 50s.

Mark Deighton
Newport and District Running Club