The Market Drayton 10k is a staple of the local running scene, and takes place annually in May. Due to its vicinity to Newport, this is one of the best-attended races of the year by members of Newport & District RC, and this year was no exception, with 21 members taking to the start line as part of a field of over 1,300 runners. 

Team NDRC at the Market Drayton 10k

Starting and finishing on the playing fields at The Grove school, the route takes runners on a tour of the town, passing through the town centre twice. Most of the course is mildly undulating, but the sting in the tail is the hill at the 9k point, which takes runners on a climb up from the town swimming baths into the town centre before the final straight back to the school. 

Helen Mason (#688) tackles the hill towards the town centre (photo: Nick Wylie)

Before the main race, a number of fun runs took place on the school fields for runners under the age of 15, and NDRC’s sibling team of Fae and Harry Stokes took part, with Harry coming second overall in his race.

Harry Wilmot was the first NDRC runner and won the Junior Male category! (Photo: Bryan Dale)

The sun often comes out for this race, but this year the temperatures were even warmer than usual, with the 11am start time registering 19 degrees Celsius, and the temperature only climbed as the race went on. As a result, runners struggled massively this year with the heat and humidity, and getting to the finish was a huge achievement, with many PB attempts going out of the window. Local people provided extra unofficial water stops, and some even sprayed the runners with their hose pipes to attempt to help cool people down.

Ollie Stokes sprints for the finish line! (Photo: Bryan Dale)

Junior runner Harry Wilmot was the first NDRC runner to finish, putting in a fantastic performance to win the male junior category, and record a rapid time of 41 minutes, 3 seconds in 59th position. Matthew Walley was not far behind, taking 63rd place in a time of 41:17, whilst Alex Cochrane was 85th in 42:47. Mark Betteridge finished 99th with his time of 43:27, whilst Andrew Wilmot was 201st in 47:11, just ahead of Neil Fairbrother, who clocked 47:23 in 211th place.

Andy Wilmot (left) chases clubmate Neil Fairbrother up the hill near the end of the race (photo: Nick Wylie)

David Evans ran a time of 48:20 in 247th, a time matched to the second by Phil Dolding, who was 248th. Philip Link clocked 50:51 in 329th, whilst Kay Wilkinson-Smith finished 353rd in 51:29. David Thomas ran a time of 52:39 in 389th position, followed by John Metzger, who stopped the clock at 54:31 in 470th, and Oliver Stokes, who was 491st in a time of 54:57.

Mark Betteridge tackles the “sting in the tail” hill at the 9k point (photo: Nick Wylie)

Helen Mason finished 527th in her time of 56:02, whilst Cameron-Ellie Mander was 556th in 56:55. Philip Hardy clocked a time of 57:52 in finished 597th, followed by Rachel Mander, who was 633rd in 58:44. Maff Wellman recorded a time of 1:02:39 in 789th, whilst Louise Patterson was 977th in 1:07:28. Matthew Humphries stopped the clock at 1:08:18 in 1.001st position, and Steve Cannon was 1,158th in 1:13:23.

Phil Dolding at the 2k point (Photo: Bryan Dale)