The Stafford Half Marathon is always a major race on the local road running calendar, and this year was no exception, with 30 Newport Running Club members lining up on the start line in Stafford town centre to take on the 13.1-mile circular route around Staffordshire’s county town. Last year’s race was postponed due to snow, so it was a relief for runners to wake up to a slightly warmer (if a little breezy!) race day this year, and 2,828 runners made up the whole field. The weather was initially dry, although some runners were unfortunate to catch a hail/rain shower as they finished their race.
The route took the runners through Castlefields and down West Way, before cutting through to the Lichfield road and making the climb up Radford Bank. From the top of the climb, they headed down Baswich Lane, and out towards Beaconside, where they skirted around the eastern ring road, before heading back towards the town centre via the Stone Road. The final sections of the race took the competitors down the Isabel Trail, before cutting through Castletown and past Victoria Park to reach the finish line in the market square.
Robin Guy was the first Newport runner to complete the course, finishing 47th overall, and 4th in category, in a very quick time of 1 hour, 23 minutes and 10 seconds. Phil Dolding was the second green-and-purple shirted runner to finish, clocking a time of 1:34:43 in 263rd place. Chas Bickford-Smith was next for Newport, 309th in 1:36:16, and heading up a close-finishing trio of Novaportans, as less than a minute behind him was Oscar Johnstone, 332nd in 1:36:53, and then Neil Fairbrother 362nd, setting a new PB of 1:37:24. Phil Cross was next for Newport, finishing 441st in a time of 1:39:16, and was joined in breaking the 100-minute barrier by Nick Watts, who ran a time of 1:39:51 to finish 463rd. Peter Johnstone was just behind Nick on chip time, despite finishing just before him on the road, coming in 456th in 1:40:17.
Neil Jones (660th, 1:43:00) and Kay Wilkinson (664th, 1:44:09) were next to cross the line for Newport, crossing almost together, and they were closely followed by Simon Yap, who was 739th with a time of 1:45:39. Stephen Mansbridge was the next NDRC runner back to Stafford town centre, breaking the 1 hour 50 mark in his first half marathon, with a time of 1:49:03 to finish 949th. He was followed by another close-finishing group of three Newport runners: Amy Hughes (1145th, 1:52:14), Annabel Montgomery, who set a huge PB, taking nearly 20 minutes off her previous best (1171st, 1:52:38), and Colin Wooley (1144th, 1:52:47).
Other Newport & District Running Club finishers: Nigel Ingram (1211st, 1:54:02), Ellen Deighton (1368th, 1:55:09), Sheryl Stuart (1443rd, 1:56:25), Lee Sutton, (1690th, 2:00:41), Ralph Humphries, (1725th, 2:02:11) Bernie Holbrook (1756th, 2:02:39), Maff Wellman (1811st, 2:03:30), Suzanne Potts (1879th, 2:07:14), Catherine Hawksworth (1972nd, 2:07:40), Frances Galvin (2253rd in her first ever half marathon, 2:12:55), Tracy Hartridge (2261st, 2:13:20), Caroline Partridge (2215th, 2:14:48), Donna Hesbrook-Edwards (2456th 2:21:12 - new PB by 1:11), Petra Leach (2534th, 2:24:40) and Esther Wright (2755th, 2:43:07).
