Caradoc Classic Fell Race

Last Wednesday the weather was poor with heavy rain throughout theafternoon and evening prior to the race, but it stopped just before thestart for the runners to race across the fields before climbing to thetop of the Caradoc near Church Stretton. Newport and District Running Club took seven runners to the event and DanLewis had a storming run to finish 6th place overall in 24m 57s, managingto keep his feet when some others were struggling in the very greasyconditions, descending the steep slopes in a sitting position at times. Ed Jopling also had a good run to cross the line in 27m 48s in 22ndposition. Sandy Mackenzie showed that he had got the London marathon outof his legs by achieving 40th place in 30m 14s narrowly beating Noel Hoganin 42nd place just nine seconds later. Bernie Holbrook was 77th in 35m 44s with Helen MacDonald-Jones 84th in 37m20s. John Brown completed the club line up on the evening in 91st place in38m 33s.

Muller 10K

Last Sunday, twenty members of the club made the short journey to MarketDrayton to run the Muller 10K round the town. The pace at the front wasunderstandably quick, but Ed Jopling was up to the job and pushed hard tofinish in 19th place overall in 35m53s. He was chased all the way by PaulParkinson who was less than half a minute behind him in 36m 18s and 25thposition.John Garmson was 117th in 40m 35s and Lindsay Ferguson was 14th lady homein 164th and 42m 12s. The evergreen and supremely consistent Steve Fowleswas the next in for the club in 183rd place and 42m 53s.Ther Newport runners times and postions wereBrian Kelson 199th 43m 22sJason Rollinson 241st 44m 35sLorraine Rollinson 247th 45m 30sJulian Withers 267th 46m 12sBernie Holbrook 305th 47m 19sRichard Miles 341st 47m 40sSandra Pattinson 350th 47m 55sOliver Stokes 365th 48m 13sNicola Fowles 488th 52m 46sFrank Forrest 495th 53m 05sBen Roper 502nd 53m 12sJohn Stokes 586th 55m 27sAnne Strowger 598th 56m 02sDonna Miles 612th 56m 42sJill Kelson 728th 65m 03sAll competitors were pleased to receive what is regarded as probably thebest 'goody bag' of any race as they crossed the finish line.

Uttoxeter Half Marathon

A fairly new member of Newport and district Running Club, Ben Roperrecently took part in the Uttoxeter Half Marathon. This was his first runsince returning from a knee injury picked up in a previous race of thesame distance in Stafford.The course was a fairly tough one with a particularly awkward climb ataround the six mile mark and a couple of quite steep downhill sectionsthat were hard on the legs, but Ben kept going and was grateful to theScouts who manned the numerous water stations along the route.Ben managed to finish in 306th place in a time of 2hr 14m 18s, which was agood result considering his lack of race practice.

Hanchurch Woods and London Marathon

Hanchurch Woods 5 mileLast Thursday, three members of Newport and District Running Club went toHanchurch Woods for the second race in Stone Master Marathoners' SpringTreble series.The air temperature seemed cool at the start, but things soon heated up asthe race began with the athletes setting off at a quick pace along thepaths and bridleways through the woods.The five mile course seemed to be either flat or down hill for the firsthalf, but made all the runners work hard in the second half as it climbedback towards the finish.Glen MacDonald-Jones and Mark Deighton were in close contention for mostof the race, but Glen managed to pull away slightly to finish 32nd in thefield of eighty four and recorded the time of 35m 11s. Mark Deighton was37th in 35m 36s.Helen MacDonald-Jones injured her knee while climbing over a fallen treewhich slowed her a little as she completed the course in 74th in 41m 53s.The final race in the series is next Wednesday. London MarathonAlong with more than 30000 others, nine members of the Newport club tookpart in the London Marathon last Sunday. Varying greatly in ages,abilities and experience, they had all been training hard over the pastfew months and determined to perform well.Dan Lewis, who attends Harpur Adams had a storming run and kept up quite aconsistent pace, hardly slowing even in the later stages of the race toachieve 149th place in 2hr 40m 36s. A magnificent effort of which he canbe proud.Ed Jopling also had a very good run in the heat of the London streets tocross the line in 3.15.33 and achieve 2034th place, still with 30000 otherrunners behind him.Sandy Mackenzie had had a few problems during his training period, but itdid not seem to affect him unduly as he was able to be 3281st in a time of3.26.59. His training will not stop there, however, as he has other longdistance events booked for later in the year.Pete Johnstone had been training hard and ran at a consistent pacethroughout the race to finish only just outside the three and a half hourmark in 3.30.33 in 3798th position.Ian Atkinson only slowed a little in the last six miles or so and cossedthe line in 3.44.41 and in 5952nd place.Kevin Bright was also doing well, but found the heat tiring and slowed inthe last part of the race to still finish ell up the field in 6394th placein a time of 3.47.14.Lindsay Fergusson had a good steady run to come 10626th in a time justover the four hours in 4.07.17.Julian Withers had put in many miles of training and was a littledisappointed to succumb to the heat of the day, slowing quite a bit in thelast six or seven miles to finish 17622nd in 4.36.19.Heather Hogan, in her first marathon, ran sensibly and even speeded up alittle towards the end of the race and easily broke the five hour barrierto come in 21720th in 4.52.52.Congratulations must go to all these runners for completing what is stillregarded as one of the great physical challenges in the sporting world andfor raising money for their various charities.

Off Road and uphill!

Last Wednesday over 120 hardy souls attempted to race up the Wrekin fromthe Forest Glen, all the way to the trig point at the summit and then backto the bottom again at breakneck speed.John Brown of Newport and District Running Club took on this notinconsiderable challenge and did well to finish in 92nd place in 28m 20s.This was also good enough for him to finish 3rd in the MV60 category.Helen MacDonald-Jones was only just behind him in 95th place and chasedhim all the way to the line to cross it in 95th place in 28m 31s and takerunners up spot in the FV50 category. The following night Helen was racing yet again along with Mark Deighton inthe last race of Stone Master Marathoners Spring Treble series atKibblestone Scout camp.This race of approximately five miles was probably the toughest of thethree in the series. Not because of the three laps the runners had tocomplete on the course, but due the 150 plus uphill steps they had toclimb on each circuit.Around 80 runners took part on the night and set off on the scenic courseat a good pace. Once they hit the steps, however, they soon became morestrung out as the uphill climbs slowed all but the very fastest andfittest of the athletes.Mark Deighton finished 34th on the night in 38m 35s. This was enough togive him 3rd place in the MV45 category for the series.Helen MacDonald-Jones was 70th in 47m 48s, which was a good resultconsidering her race from the previous evening. She was also runner up inthe FV50 category for the series.

DK 10K

Last Wednesday Mark Deighton was the lone representitive for
DK 10K
Newport and District Running Club in the DK 10K. This race, run from
Wallheath near Kingswinford is the largest midweek 10K in the Midlands and
has been run over the same course since 1986.
Over 1000 runners turned out on a hot and sultry evening to test
themselves over the undulating course that took the athletes out into the
lanes from Dudley Kingswinford Rugby Club.
The initial pace at the front was quite quick, but there were one or two
casualties who succumbed to the pace and heat as the race progressed and
not everyone completed the course.
Mark Deighton ran steadily over the first 5K before slowing a little up
some of the rises up to 8K before gathering himself for the final run in
to the finish.
He eventually crossed the line in a creditable 199th place in a time of
43m 55s, still ahead of 80% of the field.

Schneider 5 Miler
On Bank Holiday Sunday, another four members of the club raced around the
Telford Town Park in the Schneider 5 Miler, organised by Wrekin Road
Runners. Although there were only around eighty or so runners in the race,
they did well to achieve their respective times and positions.
Oliver Stokes was in 40th place to lead home the club contingent in a time
of 38m 58s with sandra Pattinson chasing him in not far behind in 45th
place in 39m 37s.
Helen Edwards was next club member across the line in 65th place in 43m
54s with John Stokes completing the line up in 71st position in 45m 50s