On Sunday, Alex Cochrane of Newport & District Running Club secured a top-10 finish at the Shrewsbury Metric Half Marathon, a race run over 13.1 kilometres, rather than the “classic” half marathon distance of 13.1 miles. Starting and finishing at the West Midlands Showground, the undulating route takes runners on a tour of central Shrewsbury and the surrounding areas, including a lap of the Quarry and a pass through the historic town centre itself.

Alex Cochrane after his 10th-place finish at the Shrewsbury Metric Half Marathon

Alex’s overall time of 56 minutes, 56 seconds put him in 10th position overall in a field of 305 runners, just 10 minutes behind the overall race winner, as well as 9th male and 2nd in the senior male age category. He was the only NDRC runner in the Metric Half, but the club were represented in the half marathon, which took place alongside the metric half, by husband and wife team Liz and Richard Bennett, who joined 946 other runners, with Richard taking 345th place in a time of 1 hour, 50 minutes, 24 seconds, and Liz finishing 347th in 1:50:26.