The Wheaton Aston 10k has long been a post-Christmas staple of the local running scene, and 2024’s edition saw 411 runners take to the lanes of western Staffordshire for their annual fix of the Wheaton Aston 10k.
Starting and finishing at Wheaton Aston school, with race HQ in the sports hall, the route takes runners on an anti-clockwise loop, first of the village itself, then of the local lanes, which this year were shrouded in fog, but thankfully not flooded.
Craig Pilsbury took the overall race victory, his time of 33 minutes, 42 seconds being enough to take the win by 13 seconds from Robert Meredith, who was second. The final spot on the podium went to Daniel Grounds (34:22), who beat John Mason of Telford AC by just 1 second in a close finish.
Chloe Dooley of Vale Royal AC took the win in the women’s race, stopping the clock at 36:24, and she finished 15th overall. Sarah Mackness of City of Stoke AC was second, and 27th overall, in 37:57, with her teammate Nia Nokes just 12 seconds behind her in third, and 29th overall.
Host club Newport & District RC were well represented, and their members were led home by David Clarke, who was 23rd overall in 37:36. Alex Cochrane finished 48th in a time of 39:44, whilst Emily Pope was first NDRC female finisher in 40:12. Adam Higgins was 68th in 42:19, followed by Tom Pope, who was 77th in 42:47. Philip Hill finished 123rd in a time of 46:41, just ahead of Jonathan Pierce, who took 125th overall with his time of 47:01, just ahead of David Thomas, who was 134th in 47:28.
Dave Evans clocked a time of 49:05 to finish 156th, just over a minute ahead of Amy Hughes, who was 172nd in 50:06. Carrie Stokes was 183rd with her time of 51:01, whilst Dale Fordham finished 227th in 54:15 and Phil Hardy was 238th with his time of 55:10. Oliver Stokes was 250th, stopping the clock at 55:38, whilst Selwyn Plant finished 264th in 56:29, and Jo Lutner was 273rd in 56:51.
Ralph Humphries finished 303rd with his time of 58:58, whilst Louise Patterson set herself a new course PB by over 2 minutes as she finished in 1:01:28 for 322nd position. Liz and Bernie Holbrook ran together, finishing 366th and 367th in 1:06:12, whilst Matthew Humphries was 387th in 1:11:03.
25/12/24: Seb Hughes’ Advent Running Challenge/Fundraising
On Christmas day, Seb Hughes, whose parents, Amy and Paul, are long-standing members of Newport & District Running Club, completed a running challenge which had started on December 1st and ran throughout Advent. December 25th also happens to be Seb’s birthday, and this year he was celebrating his 11th birthday, which allows him to run solo at parkrun (under 11s must run within arms reach of adults).
Seb’s mum, Amy, had previously “run advent” as part of her own personal running challenges, and this year Seb decided to take up the mantle himself, partly as part of his Chief Scout Silver Award personal challenge, but also to raise money for Dementia UK, a cause which means a lot to him as his Grandpa Derek suffers from dementia. The challenge that Seb set for himself was to run at least 2 kilometres each day.
He kicked off his challenge on 1 December at Telford Junior parkrun (a 2k version of parkrun, open to under-15s only, which takes place on Sundays), where he was 1st finisher in a time of 8 minutes, 10 seconds. 25 days of daily running later, he finished the challenge at Telford parkrun on Christmas Day, also his 11th Birthday, with a massive PB of 21 minutes, 42 seconds.
At the time of writing (Boxing day morning!), Seb has raised over £1,400, smashing his initial £1000 target, with donations still rolling in. Anyone who wants to donate to Seb can still do so here.
Seb was supported on the day by his family, friends, and a large number of members of Newport & District Running Club, whilst he also got a shout-out from the Run Director during the event briefing, which resulted in a large round of applause from the 494 participants!
