This weekend, four Newport & District Running Club members took part in the first edition of the Wellington 10k, a new road race taking place in and around Wellington, Telford. The route starts and finishes at Charlton School, and follows a 1-lap clockwise course, taking in the settlements of Wrockwardine, Admaston and Dothill, as well as Wellington itself, whilst featuring around 80 metres of elevation changes. 

In a field of nearly 400 runners, Mandy Purves was the first Novaportan runner to finish, taking 60th place overall, and 1st in her category, with a time of 45 minutes, 48 seconds. Simon Smith took 106th with his time of 49:46, and Ralph Humphries was next, his time of 53:23 securing 166th position. John Stokes took 354th overall by stopping the clock at 1:14:05.

Ralph Humphries (left) and Mandy Purves (centre) at the Wellington 10k

Simon Smith said of the race afterwards: “The route was initially over part of the school playing field, so I got slightly wet feet from the dew on grass. The very well marshalled course undulated quite a bit with lots of turns, keeping it interesting, plus spectators cheered runners on the whole way around the course.”