Report by Steph Main.
RAF Shawbury charity 10K – Saturday March 28 th 2026 I entered this as it was something I hadn’t done before (potentially a race I would hate!), it wasn’t too far away being just North of Shrewsbury and was on a Saturday morning at a do-able time! Priced at £25 it was a bit steep to enter but £5 went to the RAF benevolent fund and there was a decent medal and goodies bag at the end.
The event was well sign posted and I have never seen so many marshalls at an event – there were about 30 handling parking alone and groups located at various points along the route, all uniformed and very polite – the advantage of having air cadets at hand!
The sun was shining so getting out the car into a very strong wind was a bit of a shock – probably shouldn’t have been a surprise considering it was a massive flat airfield!
Registration was inside an aircraft hangar and fairly straightforward. There was an ice cream van, cake stall as well as other food vendors and charity stands dotted around. Usual queues at portaloos.
Runners had to be called to the start as were all sheltering from the wind inside the hangar and there was an annoying group warm-up (considering the wind) before we got going. There were about 200 runners taking part and it wasn’t long before everyone was spread out. There had been no clues as to the course so I was hoping it wasn’t laps and luckily there was only 1 repeat section.
The wind was immense with head wind along the longest airstrip section and crosswinds when you weren’t expecting them. The only sheltered area was round the back of a hanger at the top of the course. My usual tactic of tucking in behind someone taller was impossible as everyone was so spread out. However, the surface was amazing to run on – no potholes or uneven surfaces – with only one patch of gravelly surface at the 7km mark we were warned about – about 3 strides worth!
Running wise I wasn’t sure how I would go – this was very far removed from my kind of race, I wasn’t sure of fitness and the wind was hard work so just tried to keep as consistent a pace as I could! With it being a clear view across the runways you could see the runners in front at pretty much all points and it became apparent towards the end that the course would be longer than 10K.
The race finished at 6.56km and I was pleased with my run finishing 21 st woman – I worked hard but need to work on pushing to the finish! However, it was disappointing that it wasn’t the correct distance. There have obviously been complaints regarding the distance and organisers have acknowledged this and have since calculated what 10k times would have been with the promise of fixing the distance next year.
Finish time for 6.56km: 55.36 My Garmin 10K time: 52.46 Organisers 10k time: 52.27 This race has massive PB potential for those looking to go faster if the distance is fixed but more out of control is the wind – on a wind free day there would be PB’s galore!!