Last weekend’s Carnival in Gnosall was a great success and as a part of the proceedings the 10K race, which had not been run since before the turn of the century, was revived by Newport’s running club and had almost 130 entries. An excellent show for what was effectively a new event.
There was a short cold shower of rain just before the start, but as the countdown for the race began, the sun came out to help warm the runners and add to the carnival atmosphere.
Starting from the cricket club, the race was mainly off road with sections on the old railway line and across fields and stiles with some wooded sections and a bit of uphill just for good measure. Half a dozen of Newport’s finest turned out on Saturday afternoon with David Brown being the quickest of them on the day, finishing 14th overall in 42m 57s. Phil Hill and Chris Freer had a bit of a battle as the race approached the finishing line and it was Phil who just emerged the victor, crossing the line 20th in 43:51 with Chris 21st just three seconds behind.
David Rose was a bit slower than the previous week, but the course was a bit tougher, and he did well to be 37th in 47:04. Barrie Kay had a steady run to record 57:12 and claim 80th place with Petra Leach 108th in 64:40.
As an added bonus, Newport and District Running Club were judged by the Carnival organisers to have put on the best organised event of the day and were awarded a shield for their efforts.
The recent Newport Carnival was a great success and as usual the carnival procession was headed by the 10K multi-terrain race from Longford Hall. The runners received their usual warm and noisy reception as they raced up the High Street, before turning for the long drag up towards the Aston with a welcome drinks station on the way.
There was another climbing section as they ran up the side of the field and over Church Aston Hill before the fast section back to Longford Road and the last kilometre round the field at Longford Hall and the finish line.
It was Joe Brocklehurst of Shrewsbury AC who showed everyone the way home, but only if they could keep him in sight, as he finished over four minutes ahead of the field in 32:51, with James Bennett of Market Drayton 2nd in 37:02 and Graham Jones 3rd in 37:22. First lady home was Deborah Blakeman of Wolverhampton and Bilston in 24th overall in a time of 43:04.
Many of the town’s running club were involved in the organisation of the race and so didn’t get the opportunity to run themselves, but they still managed to put out eighteen runners in an entry of around 180 athletes to represent Newport and it was Tom O’Boyle who took club honours in 11th place with an excellent 39m 39s. Chris Freer was unlucky to miss out on a sub-40 time to be 15th in 40:29 with Maurice Reid 20th in 41:48 and David Rose was pleased to record 43:58 to claim 26th spot.
Other Newport runners finishing times and positions were:
Andrew Storey 50th 47:27
Judi Clayton 57th 48:08
Alexia Tapley 67th 49:42
Jamie Dawes 74th 50:22
Ruth Corrigan 99th 53:26
Jo Pearce 101st 53:36
John Metzger 103rd 53:39
Maff Wellman 125th 56:57
Lal Parshoram 126th 57:31
Petra Leach 139th 60:54
Des McKeown 144th 62:47
Neil Robins 145th 63:01
Pauline Walsh 156th 65:54
Johanna Blake 166th 75:46
                     
Telford AC’s Sexarathon series has really turned into an intense competition amongst the athletes involved in the six race series, with the running of the third race recently from the Shropshire golf centre at Muxton. The competition was not just amongst the elite athletes, as many runners, male and female in the various age group categories were also involved in some close racing.
Almost 240 runners turned up at the venue to race three laps around the Granville park and part of the golf course drive, and again it was Robin Sedman-Smith in competition with Robin Guy for the honours in a Newport vest. Sedman-Smith just took it on the night, finishing 12th in 22m 28s. This was no mean feat in itself as he was running with one arm strapped in a sling due to falling in training and breaking a shoulder. Robin Guy was only 13 seconds adrift in 22:41 in 14th place.
A short way back were David Brown and Duncan Strowger, having their own personal battle throughout the race and in the race to the line it was David Brown who claimed 42nd spot with Duncan Strowger just 5 seconds behind in 43rd. Chris Freer seems to be racing everywhere at present and the race experience seems to be paying off, with his results and times improving as the season progresses. He claimed 50th place in 25:27.
There was a battle royal going on just behind him between Glenn Macdonald-Jones, Maurice Reid and Phil Hill who all changed places several times during the race and it was down to the final 400m dash to the line where eventually the places were decided with Glenn 56th in 25:41, Maurice 57th in 25:45 and Phil 58th in 25:51.
Theirs was not the only close fought battle in the race or within the Newport Running Club. Paul dainty, Andrew Storey and Steve Fowles were also locked in a three way duel for places, and it was Paul’s determination that gained him 97th place in 28:31, with Andrew 99th just two seconds behind in 28:33 and Steve 100th just three seconds later!
Other Newport finishers were:-
Sally Potts 104th 28:48
Jonathan Pierce 106th 28:55
Kevin Nicklin 113th 29:26
Gayle Hellawell 121st 30:15
Ollie Stokes 131st 31:10
Benita Guy 145th 32:10
Sarah Higginson 161st 33:40
Suzanne Potts 162nd 33:41
Anne Strowger 167th 34:13
Ruth Corrigan 186th 35:59
Patricia Sims 196th 36:27
John Stokes 203rd 37:29
Petra Leach 209th 37:57
Neil Robins 211th 38:08
Toni Ireland 219th 39:36
Alison Bellamy 227th 42:38
Sian Rudling 229th 43:14
Fiona Evans 235th 46:14
                
The sun shone brightly on a glorious May morning and the robins were flying around Sheriffhales at the weekend. These were not your ordinary feathered variety, however. These were the two leading runners in the fifth running of the Sheriffhales Shuffle, a seven mile race around the fields from the village hall which eventually took the 100 or so racers across the Lilyhurst road to the sports centre. From there they dropped down the drive to a welcome drinks station before turning back past the equestrian centre and onwards across more fields to the road and back to the finish line at Sheriffhales village hall.
Robin Guy of Newport and District Running Club set off quickly at the start and led for the first section with Robin Sedman-Smith tracking him quite closely. Over this distance, Sedman-Smith’s speed endurance paid off, especially on the smoother sections where he was able to open up a bit of a gap which he maintained all the way to winning the event in 42m 47s. Robin Guy was pushing along well, but was over a minute and a half adrift at the finish, coming second in 44m 32s.
David Brown had a tremendous run and didn’t look too stressed as he crossed the line in 47:55 to be 7th , a couple of minutes ahead of Maurice Reid in 12th place in 50:09 although Chris Freer was chasing him in to the finish just two places behind in 14th in 50:28. Andrew Coles also had a good run and kept up a high tempo to be 16th in 51:47.
Tim Edwards ran steadily to finish in 23rd place in 54:01 with Paul Dainty and Ian Vann keeping each other company all the way round with Paul finishing 33rd in 56:34 and Ian 34th just a second later. Tenth in for Newport and 37th overall was Andrew Storey, who seemed to be moving well and claimed a sub hour time of 57:36.
Other Newport finishers were:-
Helen Edwards 57th 63:18
Lisa Millar 58th 63:18
Amanda Sharp 63rd 64:50
Jo Coombes 69th 66:20
Ruth Corrigan 71st 66:35
Benita Guy 73rd 68:23
Gary Bowness 90th 79:32
Neil Robins 93rd 83:08
The second race of Telford AC’s Sexarathon Series took place in midweek at the Phoenix School in Dawley and Newport and District Running Club put out over 10% of the field with 28 runners out of around 250 on the night.
The course took the runners around one short lap and two longer laps of the school and neighbouring fields which twisted and turned round a quick course.
Robin Sedman-Smith did very well to finish near the front of the field in 5th place in 16:25 and Robin Guy was also up near the front in 15th position in 17:26. In 46th place was Duncan Strowger and then there was a close contest between David Brown and Glenn Macdonald-Jones with David just winning the sprint for the line coming in 49th in 19:17 with Glenn just one second behind in 50th.
Chris Freer narrowly missed out on beating the twenty minute barrier by coming 68th in 20:03 with Maurice Reid managing a decent run in 20:38 to be 79th. Paul Dainty pulled a good run out of the bag to finish 107th in 21:53 and then came a flurry of Newport athletes in quick succession. Steve Fowles managed to just stay ahead of Kevin Nicklin by four seconds as they raced to the finish with Steve finishing 121st in 22:26 and Kevin 123rd in 22:30 with Sally Potts just behind him in 124th in 22:39.
Other Newport finishers were:
Oliver Stokes 129th 23:13
Gayle Hellawell 137th 23:46
Phillip Hill 148th 24:36
Benita Guy 149th 24:39
Sarah Higginson 152nd 25:17
Suzanne Potts 157th 25:36
Anne Strowger 168th 26:18
Ruth Corrigan 176th 26:44
Sharon Goulson 178th 26:48
John Stokes 185th 27:18
Patricia Sims 186th 27:19
Petra Leach 206th 28:30
Neil Robins 212th 29:19
Gary Bowness 213th 29:20
Toni Ireland 222nd 30:08
Alison Bellamy 239th 33:35
Sian Rudling 240th 33:35
         
Market Drayton 10K
Over 1400 runners turned up for this ever popular event and Newport’s Running Club were again well represented with 14 of them travelling to take on the 10K of roads around the town on what was quite a cool day, but without the promised rain.
As is often the case, the pace of Robin Sedman-Smith kept him near the front of the field throughout the race and he continued to push on to the finish line to eventually finish just off the podium in 4th place in a quick 33m14s. Glenn Macdonald-Jones put all past injuries and apparently his age behind him as he made all his training pay off with an impressive 76th place in an excellent 39:00 which gave him 4th in the V55 category.
David Brown had also been training hard over the past few months and he continues to show improving form as the season progresses, crossing the line in a personal best time of 39:18 to take 89th place with Chris Freer unlucky to miss out on a sub 40 minute run by just 6 seconds to be 106th. Maurice Reid had cycled the Route 66 the previous day, but still managed to be 133rd in 41:46 with Phil Hill not too far behind him in 41:53 to be 158th.
Ollie Stokes had a steady race to be 357th in 46:31 and Suzanne Potts was delighted to gain a personal best time of 51:45 to credit her with 641st place and well within the top half of this huge field in the race. Sarah Higginson did well to be 703rd in 52:46 and Linda Pearce was another runner who managed to gain a personal best in 965th place when she recorded 56:06.
John Stokes continued to run steadily to be 930th in 56:27 and Claire Edwards was 957th in 57:31 with Petra Leach completing the Newport finishers in 1161st place, just missing out on beating the hour barrier in 60:27. Sadly Fiona Evans had to pull out at the halfway stage due to a recurring knee injury.
Wombourne Sprint Triathlon
It was up to the girls to represent Newport and District Running Club at last month’s Wombourne Sprint Triathlon. Rachel Storey, Benita Guy and Jo Coombes all took on the considerable task of swimming 400 metres, before jumping on their bikes and pedalling for 20K and then running 5K out and back along the old railway line behind Ounsdale School to return to the finish.
Rachel Storey had been training hard and her time of 11:08 for the swim meant that she was well set up for the bike ride which she polished off in a respectable 43:49 before finishing the run in 26:09 to complete the whole event in 1:23:09 and be 153rd overall.
Jo Coombes was making a welcome return to this type of competition after a short lay-off and her swim time was not as fast, taking 13:36 and followed that up with a 46:34 bike ride. Her run was steady in 27:59, but she was pleased to complete the event in 1:30:48 and be 195th.
Benita Guy was involved in helping another competitor make the start line on time and due to the excitement, forgot her timing chip and her split times for the separate disciplines were not recorded. However, she is a strong swimmer and probably recorded the fastest time in this section, but on her own admission, her cycling is probably her weakest area and she lost a little time here, but ran a similar time to the others in the final section. Her final time was recorded and incredibly it was exactly the same as Jo Coombes in 1:30:48 and she was given 194th position.
        
The final race of Stone Master Marathoners Spring Treble series took place from Oulton Cricket Club outside Stone. There was an added incentive for the 130 or so runners as the organisers were offering a sprint prize for the first to pass the mile marker in the race, and since most of the first mile was downhill, some fast times were predicted.
They were not to be disappointed, and it was Newport’s Tom O’Boyle, who set off like a scalded whippet to lead the field down the road, showing everyone a clean pair of heels, and he kept it up until he passed the first mile in the tremendous time of 4m 49s. However, his effort over the first mile couldn’t be sustained and he understandably slowed a little from then on over the two lap hilly off road section before having to return to the cricket ground back up the first long hill.
It was Maurice Reid who managed to just get in front of Tom before the finish and return in 36:03 to be 25th with Tom O’Boyle just two places behind in 27th in 36:55. Ian Vann showed good form to be 32nd in 37:37.
Andrew Storey ran steadily to record 41:22 and claim 56th with Paul Dainty not far behind him in 59th in 41:44.
Mark Deighton was still injured from the previous week’s race and probably unwisely applied heavy strapping, took some painkillers and went out to complete the series. He did so, but at some cost as he limped round most of the course, finishing in what was for him, a relatively slow 43:54 and 73rd place, just ahead of Bernie Holbrook, who had knee problems, in 74th just six seconds later.
Rachel Storey ran steadily to be 80th in 44:47 with Pauline Walsh pushing through to be 114th in 53:25.
The first race of Telford AC’s sexarathon series took place at the National Sports Centre recently and there was a large turnaout from Newport and District Running Club as it was right on their doorstep with almost 40 runners included in a large field of around 270.
From near the pavilion at the rear of the centre, the runners raced round the road and downhill on the main drive before turning right at the crossroads and following Pitchcroft Lane until they emerged on Pave Lane. Turning left, they passed the Fox and continued to the sports centre’s main gates and then came the long drag all the way up the main drive back to the finish line where they started from; a distance of around five miles.
Local runner Robin Sedman-Smith showed that he was on form keeping track with the front runners and finishing 3rd overall in the excellent time of 27m 49s. Robin Guy also had an excellent race and finished well up the field in 14th place in 29m 58s. The ever improving David Brown was next in 47th place in 33:09 with Glenn Macdonald-Jones showing that he was up on his form with a time of 33:29 and 52nd place, just 6 seconds ahead of Duncan Strowger in 53rd and Maurice Reid in 55th in 33:43.
Chris Freer continued his good start to the season in 69th position in 34:34, not far ahead of Andy Coles in 72nd spot in 34:50 and Phil Hill in 78th place in 35:08.
Other Newport club members times and positions were:
Tim Edwards 95th 36:56
Paul Dainty 96th 37:03
Sally Potts 103rd 37:26
Andrew Storey 117th 38:33
Steve Fowles 119th 38:36
Kevin Nicklin 125th 39:18
Oliver Stokes 137th 40:46
Alexia Tapley 143rd 40:58
Bernie Holbrook 144th 41:09
Gayle Hallawell 148th 41:30
Rachel Storey 149th 41:33
Sandra Dainty 157th 42:15
Benita Guy 158th 42:26
Jonathan Pierce 159th 42:55
Anne Strowger 177th 43:48
Sarah Higginson 183rd 44:38
Suzanne Potts 184th 44:43
Sarah Murase 190th 45:52
Sharon Goulson 200th 47:09
John Stokes 212th 47:09
Ruth Corrigan 214th 48:59
Gary Bowness 216th 49:09
Toni Ireland 226th 50:00
Jill Amos 242nd 51:50
Petra Leach 251st 55:24
Alison Bellamy 258th 57:26
Sian Rudling 259th 57:26
Fiona Evans 262nd 59:39
Karen Woodcock 263rd 59:41
Norma Jones 265th 61:20
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