Last year (2022), Newport & District Running Club celebrated its fortieth anniversary. Founding member Ken Jones has put together an article about the early days of the club, and has kindly given us permission to publish it here. Hopefully you will find it as interesting and informative as we do.

On Sunday, October 25, 1981, Ken Broad, Jim Evans & Ken Jones organised a Fun Run in conjunction with the Newport & Market Drayton Advertiser. Hundreds took part. Ken Jones, in particular, felt that the town was ready for a running club.

Initially, a small band of runners decided to meet regularly on Sunday mornings on the car park of the Newport Rugby Club. They included David & Linda Williams, Lyn & Joyce Williams, Peter Williams, Tina Johnson, Ronnie Pritchard, Neville Garmson, Damien Lavery and Marianne Phillips.

Left to Right: Ken Jones, Stuart McLeish, Tina Johnson, Peter Williams, Lyn Williams and Neville Garmson in 1983

During the Spring of 1982, the group applied successfully for affiliation to the AAA/WAAA and became known officially as the Newport & District Running Club. Paul Sanderson of Telford Athletic Club was a great help to us during this process. The Club then relocated to Lilleshall National Sports Centre. The first Secretary was Linda Williams and the first Chairman was Ken Jones.

There followed a period of rapid expansion and an influx of more competitive runners. The current Run Co-ordinator of the Club is Kevin Nicklin and he has asked me to provide a list of early members in alphabetical order by surname.

These include: Tony Churm, Albert Corfield, Steve Corrigan, John Coombes, Tricia Edwards, Lewis Evans, Steve Fowles, Gavin Goulson, Tony Hall, Bernard Holbrook, Phil Jones, John Lenthall, David Mollett, Selwyn Plant, Phil Steer, Mike Taylor, Steve Tudor and Marie Whitefoot. I understand that a few of these persons are still active runners today! I extend my apologies to any ‘pioneers’, whose names have been missed inadvertently off this list!

Ken Jones finishes the Wolverhampton Half Marathon in 1982 just under two hours, sporting one of the early club singlets!

After several years, I resigned as Chairman because of increasing responsibilities as a Senior Lecturer in a University. It had been a great privilege for me to be both Founder Member and Chairman of the Club. I remain indebted principally to Glenn and Helen MacDonald-Jones, who then took over the reins and responsibilities and under whom the Club thrived.

From the bottom of my heart I wish all the current members and officers of the Club every success and enjoyment in the future. May they remain fleet of foot and run freely!

Article by Ken Jones, founder member of Newport & District Running Club