On Sunday, 8 members of Newport & District Running Club made the short trip along the A518 to Stafford to take on the annual Stafford 10k road race. Apart from a two-year pause for Covid, this race has been on the local calendar since 2016, and has established itself as a popular race amongst local running clubs, including NDRC. This year, conditions were tough for racing: swirling wind, warm temperatures and a muggy feel in the air all combined to create an extra challenge for the 1,400 runners who took on the course.
This year, due to improvement works taking place in the town centre, the start and finish line were moved from the Market Square to the bridge over the River Sow, by the Railway Station and Victoria Park. The race village was in the park, and runners took a slightly different route to start and end the race, whilst the bulk of the route remained as in previous years: An anti-clockwise loop around the north-east of the town, including stints along Beaconside and the Isabel Trail.
David Clarke led the way for the Novaportan contingent, finishing 17th overall in a time of 37 minutes, 9 seconds. Alex Millington was close behind, clocking a time of 37:40 to finish in 19th place. Phil Link was 186th in a time of 45:25, whilst Alex Cochrane, in 232nd with a time of 47:34, finished just in front of his uncle, David Evans, who was 251st in 47:56. Neil Fairbrother finished 343rd with a time of 49:40, whilst Louise Patterson took 964th with a personal best course time of 1:04:03, and Phil Dolding ran a time of 1:27:00 to finish 1,362nd.
Newport & District Running Club 