On Sunday, a number of Newport & District Running Club members made the short trip up the A41 to run in the Market Drayton 10k, a popular local road race which starts and finishes at The Grove school. As is often the case for this race, the sun came out, the temperature reached its highest point for any day of the year so far, and some of the locals brought out their hoses to spray the runners with water and cool them down!

(Left to right): Back row: Gary Mountford, Liz Mountford, Ralph Humphries, Oliver Stokes, Louise Patterson, John Stokes, David Clarke, Helen Mason, Phil Dolding. Front row: Ellen Deighton (race marshal), Fae Stokes, Neil Fairbrother, Harry Stokes

The course winds its way anticlockwise around the town, with both the start and finish lines on the school playing fields. The runners were well supported all along the route by local people, and especially on the hill at the 9k point, where runners have to overcome their tired legs to ascend into the town centre up Phoenix Bank. Upon finishing, runners were presented with a sizable goody bag, which included a 10-pack of milkshakes, a pack of pastries, and a gingerbread man!

David Clarke sprints to the finish line

Before the 10k race started, a series of fun runs took place for junior runners aged under 15. Newport’s Fae and Harry Stokes both took part, with Harry taking 2nd place in the boys aged 12-14 category, before they cheered on dad Oliver and grandad John, who both took part in the 10k race.

Simon Smith at the 2 mile point

In a field of nearly 1,500 runners, David Clarke was the first NDRC runner to complete the course, taking 15th position overall in a time of 37 minutes, 3 seconds. Phil Dolding was next, in 156th place, stopping the clock at 45:06, whilst Neil Fairbrother was about 2 minutes back in 47:04 to finish 204th. Gary Mountford was 297th with a time of 49:28, whilst Oliver Stokes was 315th overall in a time of 49:48. Kay Wilkinson-Smith was Newport’s first female finisher, taking 338th position, and 4th in her category, with a time of 50:16 in her first race for a year. 

Kay Wilkinson-Smith around the Grove Gardens section

Simon Smith stopped the clock at 51:17 for 371st place, whilst John Metzger was 415th in 52:22, and Ralph Humphries took 555th position in 55:14. Helen Mason managed to beat the hour mark with her time of 58:42 for 726th place, whilst Stephen Braiden was 1,015th in 1:05:07. Louise Patterson took 1,036th place overall in 1:05:42, whilst John Stokes was 1,302nd in 1:14:04, and Liz Mountford clocked 1:20:31 for 1,395th position.