On Sunday 25 June, members of Newport & District Running Club took part in the 5th Telford T50 relay. This event takes place on the Telford T50 50-mile Trail which was established to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of Telford. The route starts and finishes in Telford Town Park, taking in the Silkin Way, Ironbridge, The Wrekin, Lilleshall Monument and Granville Country Park among other Telford suburbs.

(Left to right): Daniel Campell-Miles, John Stokes, Jo Lutner, Toni Ireland, Mandy Purves, Emily Pope, Wendy Tonge, Tom Pope

The relay can be run on any day between April and June, but must be run continuously on that day. A stuffed toy dinosaur was chosen as the team mascot and relay baton and was bedecked in a NDRC cape, created by Toni Ireland. Heather Campbell-Miles led the way, setting off at 8am to run the first two legs, before handing over to Ashley Moore, Nigel Ingram and Aaron Nicholas, who took on the next 5 legs as a trio, including a steep descent into Ironbridge Gorge and back out, before they handed over the baton on the summit of The Wrekin. 

The mascot/baton dinosaur

Team organiser Daniel Campbell-Miles then took the baton the short distance down The Wrekin before handing over to Jennie and Darren Waters to navigate the Ercall. The next handover point was at the Civic Centre in Wellington, where Toni Ireland, John Stokes and Wendy Tonge ran as a three, with Ralph Humphries then taking on the 11th leg solo.

(Left to right): Aaron Nicholas, Nigel Ingram and Ashley Moore

The route then returned to the trails, with Alex Millington taking leg 12 and Darren Waters leg 13 to reach Horsehay. Jo Lutner then braved an injury to run the first of her two legs, accompanied by Ian Vann, to carry the baton to Ketley where she handed over to Mandy Purves to run two consecutive legs finishing in Donnington.

Heather Campbell-Miles
Jennie Waters

John Stokes, Toni Ireland and Wendy Tonge then ran together again for their second leg of the day, finishing with a steep climb up to Lilleshall Monument. From there Tom Pope took the leg to Granville Country Park where he handed over to Emily Pope. Emily then ran to Priorslee where Jo Lutner took the baton for the anchor leg and put in a strong finish to once again reach Telford Town Park and complete the loop to be greeted by cheers and applause from others in the team. 

Darren Waters
Alex Millington

The overall time for the team to complete 50 miles was 9 hours, 38 minues and 57 seconds, which saw them finish in third place out of 6 teams in the mixed category.

(Left to right): Ralph Humphries, Wendy Tonge, Toni Ireland, John Stokes