Lliswerry 8

Because of the recent bad weather and some lazyiness on my part, this was my first race for a month. The Lliswerry 8 is a flat 8 mile race to the East of Newport in the coastal plain of the Bristol Channel. I forgot the strange anachronism of having to pay £5.50 to drive across the Severn.

Because of cuts, the school at the start/finish was not available and so there was a 0.5K walk/run from the Race HQ (in Newport Stadium) to the start/finish. This was beneficial as it provided the runners with a compulsory warm-up/down.

I found this to be a well organised and well marshalled race and there was an atmosphere of friendliness. Maybe this was brought on by having to share the weather: although it was sunny, this was not very noticeable as the temperature was only just above freezing. Of course, most of the runners were from Wales and the Severn Valley although there were about 20 or so from Eastleigh: I found out that they always do this race.

During the first 2K, I was passed by a runner who on reading my HRR vest asked me whether I was from Oxford. He told me that his daughter goes to University here and that he had just bought some shoes from Headington's Up and Running.

Even though I was a foreigner, during the last K, there were a couple of cries of Well done Headington. Later, back at the Race HQ, I was approached by someone who said he used to be with HRR. I didn't know him as he left several years ago, but his name will mean something to you: it was Chris Nellins. He now runs with Penarth and Dinas Runners.