Shropshire Star

Downhill finish helps ease the pain in Rugeley

Three members of Newport & District Running Club took on the Rugeley 10 Mile race.

Published

The hilly but picturesque race took place in the area around Rugeley as well as some of Cannock Chase, and featured almost 300 metres of elevation changes.

Steve Cannon, Ashley Moore and Aaron Nicholas were the Novaportans who made the journey across Staffordshire, with Moore noting that, despite reading the course on paper, he wasn’t quite prepared for what was to come!

Nicholas beat his time from last year by 18 seconds, finishing in one hour, 19 minutes, 42 seconds to take 109th position, while Moore finished 57th overall in 1:11:04. Cannon completed the race in 2:14:58, taking 287th place overall.

Moore said after the race: “The 1.5-mile hill at mile 7.5 was a particular ‘highlight’ and I was ‘bouncy power walking’ by the end, after already running basically uphill for the last seven miles!

“The mile-and-a-bit downhill to the finish was more than welcome come that point. It was nice to get a Beanie hat rather than a t-shirt – more races should look at caps/hats as an alternative.”