THERE were more than 1,100 people pounding through the centre of our city on Sunday morning and no, they weren’t all running for the bus!
After a long time gestating and fine tuning St David’s Hospice Care, with the unstinting, wholehearted support of a host of local organisations including the South Wales Argus,   staged its first City of Newport Half marathon and what a (please excuse the pun) runaway success it was.
People from all over descended on Newport's  Spytty Stadium for the start of the race which wound its way through Newport along the river bank past the Riverfront (which inexplicable was not open on Sunday morning!) and off past Crindau to Caerleon and back to the stadium  for a grandstand finish.
Even our very own super fit Newport East AM John Griffiths, true to his word, took part in the event and returned with a very creditable time of 1hr 50mins. What a brilliant example to other politicians.
The event brought cheering crowds onto the streets of the city all the way up to Caerleon to support the event. Competitors signed up to take part well in advance of the off partly to be able to say that they took part in the first ever St David’s Hospice Care City of Newport Half Marathon and also to be in a marvellous event.
It’s a credit to the city that such an event was able to be staged and now, based on the success of the first, it’s likely to be bigger and better attracting even more entrants in the years ahead.
Now, if people can get together for a common cause for an event such a this just think of the success the city could have in other area too with such support.
And while I am on my favourite subject of the city centre may I just say how fed up (polite language here) with the way that some others, in particular in the more national media, are jumping on the bandwagon and doing down the city centre and always choose to use Newport with stock closed shop image, as an example of a centre in terminal decline. OK, we have a few empty shops, well quite a few actually but that’s missing the point.
You only have to travel the short distance to Spytty, by bus is best, to see what a transformation is taking place there-many new, aspirational shops have opened and others are on the way and the place is buzzing.
Yes, admittedly, this isn’t the traditional centre of the city but it is most certainly in Newport and providing superb retail outlets for the people of the city and others who come here to visit.
Indeed, recently I have been showing round visitors from across Europe, yes mainland Europe, to Newport. I am marketing one of the city’s most iconic buildings and the feed back that I have been getting from these visitors is nothing short of a revelation.
Firstly, they really like the building and secondly they really like Newport. Sounds odd? No, not really when you come into Newport and see it with fresh, unbiased and accustomed eyes.
Those of us who have grown up here see a decline in what we knew; those coming here for the first time see brilliant architecture, awe inspiring river front, Transporter Bridge, castle, history literally coming out of every nook and cranny in the city and a canvas upon which they are confident they can successfully build.
These visitors, without exception, ask about the Admiral development and its promise of bringing hundreds of new professional jobs into the city and Pound or Dollar signs almost flash up in their eyes. Frankly they can see what we or least some of us can’t-the brilliant opportunities that are here in the city of Newport.
And let’s not forget the wonderful run that Newport County are on and the fact that a new deal keeping County at Rodney Parade for at least the next 10 years has just been inked and, all being well with a few more results like last Saturday’s against Hyde we could once more be in the football league under inspirational manager Justin Edinburgh and his team.