Stretton Skyline

Three members of Newport and District running club took part in one of Shropshire’s most gruelling fell races at the weekend. The Stretton Skyline race starts in Cardingmill valley and visits the summits of all the of the main hills visible from Church Stretton – Pole Bank on the Longmynd, Ragleth, Caer Caradoc, Lawley and then the Longmynd (again) before the final descent along Motts road into Church Stretton. One of the great things about the race is looking across the A49 valley to the amazing hills you have already climbed – as well as those you still have to do. At 19 miles and 4450 feet of climb it is a very tough race. On Sunday, the weather was just about perfect with a coolish start and clear visibility but in the later stages, there was a fierce headwind through the long climb out of Gogbatch valley. 80 runners completed the race including Newport’s Noel Hogan who had a very good run finishing 21st in 3:11:08. Sandy McKenzie kept up a determined pace to finish 45th in 3:30:47. And in his first attempt at the race, Roger Kerr ran brilliantly to finish in 70th position in 4:01:44.

Jungfrau Marathon

Glenn MacDonald-Jones recently completed the Jungfrau Marathon in Switzerland. Glenn was 5th out of the 103 British runners who took part finishing in 591st place overall in 4:28:19. 4 000 competitors from 38 countries started the race from Interlaken at the foot of the Swiss alps. The winners were Jonathon Wyatt from New Zealand (2:55:32) and Anita Hakenstad Evertsen from Norway (3:23:05). The course follows gently rising roads and tracks up the valley from Interlaken to the village of Lauterbrunnen from where there is a very steep climb along hiking trails equivalent to twice the height of the Wrekin. The course continued through the beautiful mountain village of Wengen and climbs continually to the foot of the Eigergletscher glacier under the daunting face of the Monch and Jungfrau mountains. A final 1 kilometre downhill section brings the runners to the finish at the lovely ski resort of Kleine Scheidegg. Altogether the amount of climb is 2144 meters – nearly 7000 feet – over the classic 26.2 mile marathon distance

Wombourne Sprint Triathlon

At the same time as some of the club were running in Wales, Ian Atkinson and Mark Deighton took part in the Wombourne Sprint Triathlon where the athletes had to swim 400m in a pool before cycling 20km on an undulating course before finishing with a 5km run along a disused railway track.
The 160 or so competitors were set off at one minute intervals and Mark was an early starter as he is a slower swimmer and so it proved as he exited the water in 10m 39s. He did better on the bike, overtaking several other earlier starters, returning to transition in 36m 58s. The run was initially taken at a steady pace, but seemed to get a little quicker towards the finsh and he crossed the line in 23m 27s to make a total of 1hr 11m 04s. This was good enough to give him 61st position overall and 4th in the super-vets category.
Ian did even better, starting off with a brilliant swim of 7m 08s, setting him up for a bike ride of 38m 20s before having a good run of 21m 58s to give a final time of 1hr 6m 19s for the event. This secured 39th position and 10th in the vets category.

LAKE VYRNWY HALF MARATHON

This race is recognised as a big race in the veteran race calendar and is a flat, fast course used by many to attempt personal best performances.
Well over 1000 raced around the lake in sunny, warm conditions and on this occasion, Robin Guy lead home the nine strong Newport contingent to complete the course in 1.29.01 and gain 116th place. A very creditable performance in a race of this size and quality.
Phillip Hill was not too far adrift in 155th, clocking 1.31.23 as he crossed the line. Graham Rogers was next to finish in 245th managing a time of 1.36.28.
First Newport lady home was Lorraine Rollinson, who showed a clean pair of heels to many other athletes to achieve a time of 1.38.14 and 281st place. Still regaining some fitness after a long term injury, but making good progress was Steve Wootton in 298th and 1.39.15.
Another athlete who seems to be going from strength to strength and speeding up as the season goes on is Oliver Stokes, who kept going at a steady pace to be 465th in 1.47.35. Less than a minute behind him was Jason Rollinson in 1.48.16 in 474th and Claire Benson was also in close contention in 488th in 1.48.56.
The final competitor for Newport was John Stokes in 2.12.54 which was good enough to gain him a creditable 997th position.

Wolverhampton Half Marathon

At the recent Wolverhampton Half Marathon, five members of Newport and District Running Club lined up in a field of over 1000 to run just over 13 miles around Wolverhampton.
Conditions were quite good and Julian Withers made the best of it, using the race as a tester for his attempt on the Berlin Marathon later in the month. He did well in the Vet-45 category and the whole race, coming in 186th in the very respectable time of 1hr 41m 42s.
Eamonn Dennis was not too far behind him in 236th position in 1.44.39.
Helen Hadebe has had a good season and run quite a few races, gradually improving as the year progressed and finishing 446th in 1.55.41.
Richard Miles did well to maintain a steady pace and finish in 1.57.25 to gain 483rd place and Sandra Pattinson completed the club line up in 576th position in 2.03.04