On Wednesday, 16th June Telford AC hosted the third race in their Sexarathon series, the Shropshire 4-miler. This evening race takes place over 2 and a half laps of Granville Country Park, near Muxton and Donnington Wood in Telford. As ever in this series, there was a fantastic turnout of Novaportan runners, decorating the field with nearly 40 green and purple running tops.
In 44th place overall, David Clarke was the first Newport runner to finish, clocking a time of 24 minutes, 13 seconds. Not far behind was Ashley Moore in 51st position, recording a time of 24:49. Tom Pope made it into the top 100, his time of 27:11 securing 98th place, whilst Elizabeth Bennett was 107th in a time of 27:29. 116 Andrew Wilmot was 116th in 27:49, just in front of Richard Bennett, who clocked 27:51 to finish 119th. In 128th place, David Brown ran a time of 28:42, before Alex Cochrane (139th) and Phil Dolding (140th) both finished in 29:27.
Daniel Miles finished in 145th with a time of 29:44, just ahead of Aaron Nicholas, who was 147th in 29:50. Simon Yap was next, 150th in 30:05, with Pete Johnstone taking 160th position with a time of 30:41. Oliver Stokes was next, 162nd in 30:48, just ahead of Emily Pope, who was 163rd with her time of 30:50. Philip Link was next, 169th overall in a time of 31:06, and then it was Kirsty Greenhead, whose time of 31:24 secured 176th place. Graham Rogers took 178th position in 31:29, followed by Amy Hughes, who ran 32:12 to finish 193rd.
Nigel Ingram took 223rd place in 34:06, closely followed by John Metzger, who ran a time of 34:13 for 225th. Simon Taylor, in 249th with his time of 35:25, finished just in front of Selwyn Plant, who was 1 place back in 35:28. Marc Taylor was 257th in a time of 35:50, whilst Ben Roper was 264th in 36:16. Ralph Humphries finished 271st in 36:35, followed by Annabel Bolton, who was 276th in 36:48. Mark McEvilly ran a time of 38:58 for 307th place, whilst Elizabeth McEvilly was 314th in 39:33.
Anne Strowger won her category with 334th position overall in a time of 40:52, followed by Wendy Tonge who was 337th in 41:15. Nick Wylie made his return to racing with 339th place in a time of 41:40, closely followed by Sue Wylie, who was 345th in her time of 41:52. Sharon Goulson matched Sue’s time to finish 347th, just ahead of Tracy Hartridge who was 348th and 1 second back. Liz Holbrook was 353rd in 42:30, followed by Martin Murdoch, who ran a time of 43:24 for 359th place, and Lisa Yap, who finished 361st in 44:16.
11/6/22: Gnosall 10k
Last weekend, a cohort of runners from Newport & District RC took on the Gnosall 10k, a hilly multi-terrain race starting and finishing at Gnosall Sports & Social Club. Despite the name, the race distance is intentionally longer than 10k, coming in at around 11.2k overall. The race has a reputation for being one of the tougher ones around, and getting to the finish is an achievement in itself. The route takes runners across the boardwalk over the marshes next to the social club, before taking them up steep steps to the Millenium Way, and then back down to the canal at Plardiwick.
From here, the canal is followed through Gnosall Heath before heading through Cowley Tunnel and along a particularly muddy section of towpath, before leaving the canal at Cowley and heading over the fields towards Beffcote. Once competitors have made it through Beffcote, they face a tough, narrow climb up Broadhill, before descending down back towards the Millennium Way, along which they return to the finish via the previously-crossed boardwalk.
Tom Pope was the first Newport runner to finish, taking 26th position overall in a time of 51 minutes, 10 seconds, exactly 1 minute ahead of Richard Bennett, who finished 34th. David Brown was next for Newport, taking 39th place in 53:23. Alex Cochrane was just 2 places behind David, recording a time of 53:44. Kirsty Greenhead beat the hour mark with her time of 59:05 to take 74th place as well as winning her category. Philip Hardy was next, finishing 101st overall in a time of 1:03:30, whilst Richard Skingsley was 105th in 1:04:13.
John Metzger ran a time of 1:13:41 to take 175th place, whilst Kay Wilkinson recorded 1:16:01 to take 187th place. Helen Holdroyd was 202nd in 1:17:10, just 4 seconds and 2 positions ahead of Anne Strowger, who was first in her category. Sue Wylie ran her race in 1:21:32 to take 234th position, whilst Liz Holbrook finished 246th in 1:24:46. Phil Dolding ran with his daughter Sophie, crossing the line in 251st place with a time of 1:25:51. Louise Patterson, also of NDRC, volunteered as the sweeper for the event, a role she very much enjoyed and hopes to return to in the future.
