On Sunday, three members of Newport & District Running Club made the trip up the A41 to Chester to take on the city’s annual marathon, which takes place every October. Starting and finishing at Chester Racecourse, the route takes participants on an anticlockwise lap of the city and the countryside to the south of the city, passing through settlements such as Eccleston, Pulford, Trevalyn, Holt, Churton and Aldford. The race features over 200m of elevation gain, much of which is in the second half of the race.
Nearly 5,800 people started the race this year, with just over 5,700 making it to the finish line, and it was Darren Waters who led the way for Newport, beating the 3-hour mark with his time of 2 hour, 59 minutes, 2 seconds, and placing 262nd overall. David Evans was next, finishing in 2,885th place with his time of 4:19:13, whilst Ben Roper finished 5,379th in a time of 5:46:18.
This was the final race of Chester’s series of three races, also comprising the 10k and Half Marathons, both of which took place in the spring, and both David and Ben were able to collect the “triple medal”, awarded to everyone who took part in all three races!
