Cannock Chase 5 mile

Last Wednesday over 400 athletes congregated at the visitor centre on Cannock Chase to take part in a 5 mile race on a multi terrain course. Newport and District Running Club put out 9 runners on the night which was good considering that many of the club were on holiday at the time.
Tom Humphries of Cannock and Staffs AC set off at a stunning pace that no one else could match and was almost two and a half minutes clear at the finish to cross the line in a new course record of 24m 32s.
First to finish for Newport was Nick Cooper, who pushed on in the warm conditions to be 83rd in a time of 34m 21s. Not too far behind was Mark Deighton in his first race in the V50 category, to finish 102nd in 35m 04s. He was chased all the way to the line by Ian Atkinson, who pushed on to be 112th in 35m 13s and John Taylor was not far behind him in 122nd place, crossing the line in 35m 39s.
Andrew Kay had a good run to finish in 38m 54s and gain 206th place with John Brown showing many younger runners the way home, finishing 259th in 41m 18s and Frank Forest kept up a steady pace to finish 270th in 42m 00s.
Nigel Cooper and Tracy Taylor kept each other company throughout the race and came in 319th and 320th respectively in the the same time of 44m 57s.