Highways England team celebrate Severn Bridge’s 50th anniversary
A team of Highways England runners put their best feet forward to mark the 50th anniversary of the original Severn Bridge.
Highways England is responsible for maintenance and traffic management of the M48 bridge, and to mark this week’s 50th anniversary of the original Severn Crossing, a group of staff joined up to 2,500 runners in the third annual Severn Bridge Half Marathon on Sunday, 28 August.
The 13 runners teamed up from Highways England’s South West offices at Temple Quay House in Bristol, The Cube in Birmingham, and Ash House in Exeter, and as well as marking the anniversary of the bridge – which falls on Thursday, 8 September – they also raised money for Winston’s Wish, St David’s Hospice Care and the Great North Air Ambulance Service in the process.
Highways England team runners gather before the half marathon
The half-marathon involved two crossings of the bridge and one of the team, Steve Clarke, from the Cube, really showed his paces by completing the course in a time of 1hr 24mins 7secs, to finish first in the male veteran 45 category and 21st overall.
Jennie Boyd, another runner and a Bristol-based team leader within the Intelligent Transport Systems group, said:
For me, it was my first time in the Severn Bridge run – it’s a hilly half-marathon, but very enjoyable and everyone from the team completed it.
As Highways England has been involved for so many years with the historic M48 Severn Bridge we thought this was an excellent opportunity to celebrate the connection and proudly represent the company – and I’m sure we’ll be involved again next year.
A TV documentary will also be screened this week to mark the anniversary of the famous West Country landmark.
The Severn Bridge at 50: A High Wire Act features footage from the half-marathon and will be shown tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7.30pm on BBC1 Wales and on Friday, again at 7.30pm, on BBC1 West. It is also scheduled to be screened on the national BBC2 network on Saturday, 17 September.
General enquiries
Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.
Media enquiries
Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.