History
By Trevor Frecknall
Ken Rikuss
The Newark Half Marathon was conceived by Newark AC’s then president, the late Ken Rickhuss, once it became obvious that the fun run boom of the early 1980s was not merely a 10-minute wonder. Previously, the club’s open road race was a 6-miler, which could not cope with huge fields of the new breed of ‘jogger’ or ‘fun runner’ even if the distance had been fashionable (which it was not).
Because we were too small an organisation to operate such a large event ourselves, Ken enlisted help from Newark and Sherwood District Council Leisure and Tourism Department (to help persuade the police to allow us to close roads, etc. and to generate financial sponsorship) and Newark Rugby Club (to provide course marshals). Both were good relationships (a) because the Council were already thrilled with the benefits that were about to come from us hosting the ECCA National Cross Country Championships for the first time, on 3 March 1984 and (b) because Newark AC had been founded basically by officials of Newark RFC (e.g., “Dickie” Dwyer) to keep the post-War rugger players fit during the summer.
The biggest snag came when Ken came to try and find a space for the event in the East Midlands road running calendar. At the time, every established athletics club and newly-formed running club in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire was coming up with its own 10km, 10-miler or half marathon; while an entrepreneur in Lincoln operated a highly popular series with six or so road races over different distances. So the only date Ken could find was in the hottest month of the year; the one when most folk were on holiday. It proved but a minor handicap to this determined money- and interest-raiser!
Newark Rugby Club
Because the new generation of rugby chaps had no experience of road running, Ken asked me to drive a couple of their officials around the Mansfield Half course a month before Newark’s inaugural 13.1-miler on 15 August 1982 so that they could get an idea of how to operate drinks stations and control crowds/vehicles. As we passed the third drinks station, the Newark RFC treasurer asked me: “What are those heaps of yellow bricks for?” I explained that they were sponges to cool the runners down. “How much do they pay for them?” he asked. “Nothing,” I replied – scoffing at the idea of runners carrying small change in their shorts. This gave him cause to scoff: “Aah dear boy – that’s why yours will always be an amateur sport and ours will be a professional sport!” Nothing’s changed, eh?
Newark market place
Bert Bradshaw (who I daresay remains the fastest marathon runner ever to represent Newark AC) took his course-building skills from the cross country plains of the Newark and Notts Showground to the streets of Newark/Balderton and came up with a course that started in Baldertongate (the same straight as was used for the start and finish of the old 6-miler) and finished in the Market Place.
The only hitch to this part of the preparation came when the distinguished-looking Mr. Rickhuss – fresh from his office in suit and tie with not a grey hair out of place – bent to spray from an aerosol can on the spot on Baldertongate from which the historic race would start. As he squirted, a passing lady swatted him beside the ear with her handbag, snarling: “Should know better at your age – my grandson’s just got fined for doing that sort of thing.” Friends of the great man still wonder if, without that bump on the head, Ken would ever have been, er, optimistic enough to allow himself to become chairman of that citadel of sporting civil war known as the British Athletic Federation.
As you will gather from the following details, time- and record-keeping (not to mention detailed reports by the Newark Advertiser) proved a struggle in the early years. The following is gleaned from the Advertiser archive at Newark Library:
1982 (15 August): Men – 1st Peter Shaw (Sheffield AC) 1:05:30; 2nd John Barker (Grimsby AC); 3rd Peter Clarke (Grimsby AC). Women – 1st Eleanor Adams (Sutton-in-Ashfield HAC) 1:19:55; 2nd P Hudson (Barnsley AC); 3rd J Walker (Kettering Town Harriers).
1983 (14 August): Men – 1st Terry Colton (Loughborough Students) 1:07:36; 2nd Trevor Hawes (Leicester Coritanian) 1:07:43. Women – 1st Valerie Greenwood (Cannock & Stafford AC); 2nd Jenny Wilcox (Shrewsbury AC).
1984 (5 August): Men – 1st John Clark (Grimsby AC) 1:05:25; 2nd Philip Hall (Grantham AC); 3rd John Barker (Grimsby AC). Women – 1st Eleanor Adams (Sutton-in-Ashfield HAC).
1985 (11 August): Men – 1st Philip Hall (Grantham) 1:07:35; 2nd G L Good 1:08:07; 3rd Carl Nightingale (Sheffield AC) 1:08:50. Women – 1st Linda Kelly (Redhill RR) 1:20:19.
1986 (10 August): Men – 1st Carl Nightingale (Sheffield AC) 1:08:14; 2nd John Barker (Grimsby AC) 1:08:57; 3rd Paul Brompton (Newark AC) 1:09:08. Women – 1st Eleanor Adams (Sutton-in-Ashfield HAC) 1:20:12; 2nd C A Wild 1:22:55; 3rd Diane Underwood 1:29:02.
1987 (9 August): Men – 1st Eamonn Hyland (Redhill RR) 1:07:48; 2nd Steve Crossland (Birchfield Harriers) 1:07:56; 3rd Philip Hall (Grantham AC) 1:08:27; 4th Paul Hardern (Newark AC) 1:11:11. Women – 1st Sheila Catford (Leeds City AC) 1:13:26; 2nd Linda Rushmere (nee Kelly, Redhill RR) 1:17:28; 3rd M Savage 1:25:26.
1988 (14 August): Men – 1st Dave Ramsden (Coventry Godiva Harriers) 1:09:07; 2nd Eamonn Hyland (Redhill RR) 1:10:33; 3rd R Carrier 1:11:05. Women – 1st Linda Robb (Notts AC) 1:23:27; 2nd Kate Else (Newark AC) 1:28:06; 3rd A Rodgers 1:29:29.
1989 (13 August): Men – 1st Petr Klimes (Czechoslovakia) 1:08:36; 2nd Pavel Klimes (Czechoslovakia) 1:08:36; 3rd Richard Ironmonger (Notts AC) 1:10:25. Women – 1st Felicity Sperke (Notfast RC) 1:29:39; 2nd Jackie Jackson (Derby Ladies) 1:31:52; 3rd Kate Else (Newark AC) 1:34:08.
1990 (12 August): Men – 1st Kevin Forster (Valli Harriers) 1:03:43 (course record); 2nd Richard Ironmonger (Notts AC) 1:08:40; 3rd D Bond 1:09:00. Women – 1st Wendy Gainsford (Cambridge & Coleridge AC) 1:22:21; 2nd Felicity Sperke (Redhill RR) 1:23:09; 3rd Linda Robb (Notts AC) 1:25:29.
1991 (11 August) over a new, straighter but hillier course taking in Coddington: Men – 1st Richard Ironmonger (Notts AC) 1:07:42; 2nd Eamonn Hyland (Redhill RR) 1:08:44; 3rd Steve Davies (Mansfield Athletes Feet In Action) 1:11:22. Women – 1st Catherine Helsop (Notts AC) 1:22:14; 2nd Yvonne Hill 1:28:38; 3rd Francis Cooke (Peterborough AC) 1:29:44; 4th Sue Oxley (Newark AC) 1:30:49 won Notts Women’s AAA silver medal.
1992 (): Men – 1st Eamonn Hyland (Redhill RR) 1:06:54; 2nd Richard Ironmonger (Notts AC) 1:07:25; 3rd Adrian Clarke (Chesterfield & District AC) 1:10:26. Women – 1st Teresa Dyer (Peterborough AC) 1:17:38; 2nd Kathryn Palmer (Grimsby AC) 1:22:22; 3rd Catherine Heslop (Notts AC) 1:24:05.
1993 (): Men – 1st Dave Beris (Nottingham University) 1:07:39; 2nd Richard Ironmonger (Notts AC) 1:08:11; 3rd Eamonn Hyland (Redhill RR) 1:08:16. Women – 1st Felicity Garland (Redhill RR) 1:23:52; 2nd Dawn Robinson (Coventry Godiva Harriers) 1:24:43; 3rd Jane Bishop 1:27:16.