Sunday saw the annual running of the Ironbridge Half Marathon, a popular local road race which draws in participants from all over the country. Starting and finishing in Telford Town Park, the route takes participants down the Silkin Way before completing a clockwise lap which takes in Madeley, Coalport, Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale, before returning up the Silkin Way to the finish. The race features over 200m of climbing, most of which is completed in the second half of the race, and runners cross the famous Iron Bridge just after the 12k point. This year, 448 runners took part, 6 of whom were from Newport & District RC, with finishers receiving a hand-made ceramic medal, and were cheered on by locals, making for a great atmosphere!
Robin Guy was the first NDRC runner to finish, taking 16th place overall, and 2nd in his category, with a time of 1 hour, 25 minutes, 14 seconds. Pete Johnstone was next, running a time of 1:37:51 to take 62nd overall, followed by Aaron Nicholas, who clocked a time of 1:43:04 in 101st position. Daniel Campbell-Miles was next, taking 154th place in 1:50:18, whilst Amy Hughes was 221st in 1:57:58. Jacob Cross was taking part in his first race as a club member, and ran a PB of 2:27:11, whilst also raising £185 for West Mercia Search and Rescue (https://www.justgiving.com/page/jacob-cross-1?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL if you would like to contribute!)
Amy Hughes said afterwards: I’d planned this race into my London Marathon training calendar, but in the end came to it off the back of 5 weeks nursing an injury and having done only a handful of runs in that time. I looked into transferring my place via the wait list, but the process was too complicated, so, having established last weekend that I could manage 9 miles without pain, I rested in the week up to Ironbridge and set out to see how it went.
My vague plan was to set off at 9 minute miles, and slow right down if things started to hurt. I was ready for the course elevation profile – but had not remembered that it is about 50% unsurfaced trail. Which was now muddy and slippery in parts on a drizzly race day. Not ideal for nursing a stability injury, but I steadied up on the tougher terrain, battled up the hills, and managed to pick up the pace again when we finally got back on to tarmac for the last couple of miles. I made it round in just under 2 hours, which I’m very happy with, all things considered. Now to manage the tricky business over the next few weeks of trying to build in a few more miles to the final part of marathon training, without reaggravating a tricky injury!
Pete Johnstone said of the race: “It was a cool day with no wind, and some very light rain, on and off. Rain had been heavier overnight which led to some of the trails being a little bit muddy, but generally good conditions. A fast first half down into The Gorge, and a tough last five miles back up to the finish in the Town Park. Lots of friendly encouragement from the marshals made it a really enjoyable event.”
Newport & District Running Club 