On Saturday, Newport & District Running Club’s Alex Cochrane and David Evans took on a “Groundhog Day” challenge at Oakengates sports centre, where long-distance races are run entirely on the 400-metre long running track. On offer were distances of 5k, 10k, half and full marathons, with all races happening at the same time, on the same track, with runners completing as many laps as required to tick off the full distance of their chosen race.

Alex Cochrane on his way to winning the 10k

In theory, the surface and lack of elevation changes should make for quick times, but runners have to navigate each other, as well as the mental challenge provided by the repetitive nature of the event. Alex took on the 10k distance, and after clocking a very impressive time of 40 minutes, 31 seconds, was declared the overall winner, more than 5 minutes ahead of the second-placed runner. 

David Evans ran in the half marathon

Alex’s uncle, David, took on the half marathon distance, and despite having been unwell in the lead up, still managed an impressive time of 1 hour, 58 minutes, 4 seconds to take 8th place overall.