The Wyre Forest 8 was run for the 16th year last weekend, and has always been a popular race, but it was a sign of the current economic climate that the race had no sponsor this year and the Amazing Feet Running Club did well to keep the event on for the benefit of the 200+ athletes who took part.
Starting at the visitor centre, the first couple of miles were on well made forestry tracks and largely downhill, which made for some quick progress at the beginning of the race. However, this soon changed as they turned left over the bridge to run alongside the river. This section was soft and boggy in places and slowed the pace somewhat for about a mile before the course took the runners uphill as they spread out and found their natural pace as they continued on paths and trails through the Wyre Forest.
The final mile was again back out onto a forest road, but the runners were not given an easy time of it as it was all uphill as they tried to sprint to the finish at the visitors centre.
Newport and District Running Club again featured in the line up on the start line with fourteen members making the journey to the far side of Bewdley to take part.
Maurice Reid was featuring near the front of the field along with John Taylor, but Maurice’s speed triumphed over John’s endurance on this occasion, with Maurice finishing 19th in 55m 27s and John not far behind in 26th in 56:44. David Brown was just outside the hour mark in 61:06 to be 52nd with Andrew Coles close behind him in 54th in 61:23.
Helen Cork proved her fitness by taking 73rd spot in 63:49 and Lisa Millar also did well to be 94th in 66:42 and not too far behind her was Tim Edwards in 104th place in 68:08. There was a close contest between Helen Edwards and Prue Shelley with Helen eventually pulling away to be 130th in 73:10 and Prue just three places behind in 133rd in 74:07.
Tracy Hartridge kept smiling all the way to the finish to be 145th in 76:49 with Ed Christie not far adrift in 151st in 77:54. Another close battle which went all the way to the finish line was that between Helen Hadebe and Ceri Christie. Helen just pipped it at the finish in 78:43 to be 155th with Ceri 156th just three seconds later. The Newport line up was completed by the experienced John Brown, who kept going all the way to the end to be 203rd in 96:20
Over last week’s snowy weekend, some of Newport’s finest athletes managed to travel to Stourbridge to take part in the annual 10 mile Stagger which took in some of the tracks, lanes and fields of the surrounding countryside.
Conditions underfoot were quite treacherous in places, especially for those not used to the conditions or without some specialist footwear. Some of the runners were being quite cautious when it came to the corners or the downhill sections.
Amongst the 300 or so athletes who started the race, David Brown, of Newport and District Running Club, did well to finish 75th in a good time of 1hr 24m 05s. Alan Jenkins kept up his current form to be 101st in 1:28:10 and seemed to enjoy the conditions more than some others.
In the other camp was Ollie Stokes, who found the conditions quite testing, and wished for warmer weather and better grip, but still managed a commendable 211th place in 1:42:39. Tracy Hartridge, who seems to keep smiling whatever the conditions, recorded 1:46:00 to claim 231st place and John Stokes was 250th in 1:49:27. Completeing the Newport line up and recovering after a bit of an injury was Sarah Higginson in 261st in 1:53:29.
This race may not be the longest race in the fell running calendar, but it is renowned as being one of toughest races of the year. The distance of 11 miles is accompanied by a total climb of 4500 feet and if that was not enough, the weather over the weekend was very cold and a covering of snow on the Longmynd made the scenery beautiful, but running conditions treacherous.
Over 200 runners took on the course and although it was run in freezing temperatures, the runners soon worked up a sweat as they scrambled over several peaks and down into the valleys and Noel Hogan of Newport and District Running Club was well up the field as the race progressed, although he, like many others, found descending difficult on the frozen surface and spent some time sliding down on his rear in the name of safety.
Prue Shelley: Before Yearlet
The racers were well spread out by the finish line and Noel Hogan completed the course in 2hrs 19m 28s to be 57th overall. Maurice Reid battled through the ice and snow to be 151st in 2:53:52 and Andrew Coles kept going all the way to the line to be 172ndin 3:04:47.
Ian Vann found the going tough, but didn’t give up and crossed the finish line in 3:04:56 to claim 175thplace with Prue Shelley not far behind him in 179th place in 3:07:19. However, all the finishers deserved praise for beating the hills in very testing conditions.
On a cold and bright Sunday morning, the thirdShifnal Gallop 10k took place. Starting and finishing at Idsall School, the race took a route north from the school grounds into the countryside along quiet country roads, tracks and footpaths. Nearly all the entry fee went directly to the Midland Air Ambulance Charity to help fund the air ambulance based at RAF Cosford.
Conditions on the day meant that conditions on the multi terrain course were quite firm, even on the off road sections, and this resulted in some fast times. Robin Guy, of Newport and District Running Club, was always challenging near the front of the field of almost 170 runners, and had a storming run to eventually cross the line in 3rd place in a fast time of 37m 18s. An enviable time over any 10K course.
Maurice Reid followed up his previous week’s run with a quicker time of 40m 45s to take 18th place and Tom O’Boyle did well to be 30th in 42m 52s. He was closely followed in 32nd spot by Duncan Strowger in 43m 05s. Alan Jenkins also bettered his previous 10K time with a 44:16 to be 41st.
There was then a bit of a gap to Jamie Dawes in 76th place in 49m 26s and John Metzger in 102nd in 53:49. A flurry of Newport ladies then crossed the finish line in quick succession. In 107th was Amanda Ingram in 54:06. Twelve seconds later was Rachel Storey in 108th and a further twelve seconds later in 54:26 in 109th was Jane Chapman.
Aimee McPhee had a good steady run to achieve 117th in 56:35 and she was closely followed by Toni Ireland in 57:02 to claim 120th. Sharon Goulson kept up a good pace to be 133rd in 59:04 and John Brown managed to beat the hour to be 138th in 59:42.
Gary Bowness was 147th in 61:04 and in close contention was Jill Kelson in 148th in 61:16. Completing the line up was Pauline Walsh in 154th in 64:43.
Some Newport runners prefer the tarmac to running off road and three of them travelled to Helsby on the other side of Chester to take part in this event.
Passing through the villages of Alvanely, Manley, Mouldsworth and Dunham on the Hill, the runners encountered blustery conditions which, at times, resembled running into a wind tunnel, but this did not seem to slow down Ollie Stokes. His winter training had been going well and he crossed the line in a new personal best time of 1hr 47m 29s to be 824th in a massive field of well over 1600 athletes.
Dave Sargent also had a good run to be 1134th in 1hr 56m 41s and John Stokes kept going steadily to cross the finish line in 2hr 02m 18s to claim 1279th position.
This multi-terrain 10K race was being run for the second time, and to prove that it was even more popular than last year, there were almost 350 runners taking part on a sunny, but blustery morning.
It was a colourful site as the runners started off across the fields, enhanced by the 25 green vests of Newport and District Running Club as they competed for places along the tracks and the edges of the fields until the pace settled down and the runners found their race rhythm.
Phil Hill was pushing along at a swift pace near the head of the field and kept up the pressure right to the finish line to be 23rd in an excellent time of 42m 48s. Not too far behind him was Maurice Reid, keeping up his busy race schedule to be 28th in 44:05 and hot on his heels was John Taylor in 44:21 to claim 32nd place.
Tom O’Boyle proved that he was still as fit as last year to finish 52nd in 46:07 and the ever improving Andrew Coles was only a few places behind him in 59th in 46:57. Two other Newport runners in close contention were David Brown and Alan Jenkins, who finished in 67th and 70th positions respectively with David recording a time of 47:46 and Alan 48:02.
There was then a contest between Ian Vann and Newport’s first lady over the line, Helen Cork. It was not a case of ladies first, however, as it was Ian who crossed the line ahead of Helen in 49:06 in 84th with Helen just six seconds behind in 85th.
Despite suffering a calf injury just after the 5K point, Mark Deighton managed to keep going and finish 92nd in 49:32. Steve Fowles also managed to keep up a steady pace to register a finishing time of 52:40 and 131st position.
Almost 140 runners turned up for the Cannock Chase Trig Points Race last weekend and were rewarded with a cold and frosty, but beautifully sunny morning which made running a real pleasure.
The 16 mile course had to be navigated to reach all the check points in the correct order, and it was a strange sight as the siren sounded for the start of the race to see runners disappearing off in all different directions instead of the normal set route.
The race took the runners from Milford all the way across the Chase to Castle Ring and back round again via several check points and runners had to carry a map to help with navigation and a whistle as well as full windproof clothing due to the time of year.
Maurice Reid and John Taylor seemed to run as a team and pushed each other along to be 37th and 38th respectively and crossing the line in the same time of 2hr 12m 11s.
Andrew Coles and David Brown were also in close contention throughout the race and finished 70th and 71st respectively with Andy recording 2hr 26m 24s and David following him in just 10 seconds behind.
Prue Shelley and Lisa Millar were also keeping each other company during the race and again crossed the finish line together in 126th and 127th places with Prue beating Lisa by just one second in 3hr 06m 37s.
This years Wrecker was one of the most successful we have ever had. There were over 200 entrants, the weather was just right, and the course was slippery without being too difficult.
The winner on the descent
The quality of the marshalling was, as usual, second to none, and the racing was of an excellent quality. Leading the field home was Connor Carson of Kenilworth Runners who just missed the hour mark in a time of 01 hour and 03 seconds, narrowly finishing ahead of Paul Jones and Ian Grindley both of Mercia. In all there were a total of 37 runners under the 1 hour and 15 minutes mark which is exceptional running.
Almost 140 runners turned up for the Cannock Chase Trig Points Race last weekend and were rewarded with a cold and frosty, but beautifully sunny morning which made running a real pleasure.
