On Saturday, Newport & District Running Club’s Helen Mason took on the Black Country Half Marathon, a point-to-point race which takes runners from the start in Wolverhampton along the canal network to the finish in Birmingham city centre. Out of 1,140 runners to complete the course, Helen finished 515th overall in a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 37 seconds.

Helen Mason with her medal after completing the Black Country Half Marathon

Helen said after the race: “It was cold and drizzly on the day, which was unexpected for a July race, but turned out quite nice conditions to run in apart from a few very muddy parts of the path. The route followed the canal all the way, with a brief stretch going through an industrial area under the M5 but the best part of the race was suddenly emerging into Brindley Place and seeing the Lego giraffe! Unfortunately, there was a diversion in place due to repair work on the canal towpath, which added half a mile to the route, otherwise this would have been a half marathon PB for me.”