Sunday 28th August saw the return to racing, after a 8-year wait, of Newport & District Running Club’s Simon Smith. Having last competed at the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon, Simon had found that the self-imposed pressure of competing in races was disheartening him, so he chose to take a break from organised events. Fast-forward to 2022, and Simon decided to take on the Spitfire 10k at Cosford’s RAF museum and make his comeback.
Race day was a very hot late-August day, conditions which Simon admits to struggling in, but he didn’t let that phase him. He arrived early to collect his commemorative t-shirt, and spent some of the time leading up to the start reading a book in the shade of his car to keep cool. A slow jog and some stretching to warm up followed, and he also met up with a fellow runner, Samantha, who he had not seen for 38 years, when they were classmates at school.
The race was a little late starting, due to delays to the preceding family 1k and 2k races, as well as a queue for the car park, but once the approximately 1,000 runners were sent on their way, Simon set about settling into a rhythm, once he’d made it through the bottle-neck start line, that is. Despite seeing a number of fellow participants walking due to the heat, Simon stuck to his task, running consistently throughout at his target pace, 9-minute miles, glad of his newly-purchased running cap and pre-race hydration.
As he reached the finish, Simon heard his name read out on the tannoy, and was very grateful to receive his post-race water and banana, and was particularly impressed with the medals, which featured a revolving centre piece. His finishing time, in 369th place, was 57 minutes, 20 seconds, and most importantly, Simon rediscovered his mojo for running in 10k races. Simon wasn’t the only NDRC runner taking part at Cosford; Junior runner Alex Cochrane finished in 121st place overall, in a time of 48:59, whilst Sally Morgan was 777th in 1:12:48.
Newport & District Running Club 