Last Wednesday evening, Newport & District Running Club hosted their annual members’ Summer Handicap race. This race offers something a little different to most races, as the winner is the person who can run the closest time to the time that they predict beforehand, and not the person who crosses the line first. Runners are not allowed to wear a watch or carry any other timing devices, so they must pace themselves unaided.
The race distance was set at approximately 6 miles, and took in a circular route, starting and finishing at The Wheatsheaf pub in Chetwynd Aston, with a short out-and-back section near Woodcote Hall. 36 runners took part, and were all set off at intervals, determined by their predicted times. In theory, everyone should finish very close to each other, and the person finishing closest to 1 hour after the first person starts should be the winner.
Out of the 36 runners, 16 managed to finish within a minute of their predicted times, of which 10 were within 20 seconds and 3 within 10 seconds. In third place was John Taylor, who was 10 seconds quicker than his predicted time of 44:00. Second palce was taken by Daniel Miles, who ran 8 seconds quicker than his 52:00 predicted time. This year’s winner, who was bang on his predicted time of 45:00, was Joe Phillips.
Worcester City 10k: 15/9/19
On Sunday, Louise Patterson made the trip down to Worcester, where she ran in the Worcester City 10k alongside her friend Tom. They ran together, and finished in a time of 1:09:10, which is Louise’s 3rd fastest time at that distance, and her fastest time on that particular course. The course starts and finishes at the cattle market, just south of the racecourse, and winds its way through the city centre, taking in a number of sights, such as stretches of banks of the River Severn and Worcester Cathedral. 2,334 runners made up the field, and Louise earned herself 1,879th place
Robin Hood 100-Mile Ultra: 14-15/9/19
Challenges in the world of running don’t come a lot tougher than 100-mile races, and Newport & District Running Club’s Ben Roper took on such a race this weekend, as he travelled to the East Midlands to run in the Robin Hood 100-mile race. The relatively flat course starts and finishes in South Wheatley, and takes in Retford, Clumber Park, Sherwood Forest and Worksop, amongst other places. A significant amount of the race takes place on canal towpaths, which aids navigation. Ben was lucky with the weather, as both days were warm and sunny, and he even found time to sample an ice cream during the race. He said it was by far and away the hardest race he has ever done, but that he enjoyed the experience, and came away with a very creditable time of 28 hours, 28 minutes.
