In windy conditions at Tooting, south London, the W60 athlete clocked 4:57.14 on a day when veterans Andrew Ridley and Rob McHarg also topped the 800m.
Britain’s most prolific 1500m and mile runner Claire Elms delivered one of her most rewarding performances when she broke the W60 1500m world record to become the oldest woman ever to break five minutes in 4:57.14 at the Veterans AC Championships. Shaking on Saturday (August 31).
Until last year, the record was 5:06.63, set by Germany’s Lydia Zentner in 2013 when she became the first W60 to break 5:10, and then American Sue McDonald ran 5:04.27 and 5:02.38 in 2023.
That record was broken last week when Ireland’s Anne Gilshinan ran 4:59.45 to win the world masters gold medal in Gothenburg. Gilshinan, MacDonald and Zentner all won World Masters Athlete of the Year awards.
The Kent AC athlete, who currently holds 24 different British age group records, has now set world marks indoors and outdoors as W50, W55 and W60 in both the 1500m and the mile.
After recent UK bests in both the 800m (2:29.64) and 3000m (10:33.34) her confidence soared and she opted to run in the younger medley rather than her age group. in the group.
Claire Elms and Terry Booth (Cliff Hide)
In the race, he was able to keep up with M55 Terry Booth, knowing he had run 4:58.29 earlier this year, which helped with bursts of over 25km/h.
Running economically, each lap took around 79 seconds and he finished with two seconds in hand.
Managing a heel injury, he has achieved 11 British records this year and although he has been focused on the track in the summer, he is hoping to try and break records in the half-marathon after a short winter break.
Elms broke the world mile at Wimbledon in July but has yet to be certified because of a photo finish issue and, although he had no hiccups at Tooting, it looks like it could deny Andrew Ridley and Rob McHarg.
Andrew Ridley stars as Rob McHarg (Cliff Hide)
The pair, who train together, dropped down to the youngest age group rather than run with the M60.
Ridley, who has won World Masters double gold in the 800m and 1500m, however made progress in the M35 race and covered the 400m in 62 seconds despite the tough conditions, particularly the bends.
McHarg, who was third in both races in Sweden but improved race by race and had set a British record of 2:09.45 midweek, stayed on and both quickly accelerated down the straight, leaving the younger runners in their wake.
Ridley ran 2:07.45 and McHarg 2:08.01, compared to American Nolan Shahid’s 2011 M60 world record of 2:08.56.
However, although the time could be confirmed (respective hand times were 2:07.4 and 2:07.8), the photographic finish images were insufficient for world record purposes and McHarg cannot even count it as a Scottish record.
In Sweden, the pair were interestingly split by Robert Kibbett’s 800m best of 1:43.66, although Kibbett’s date of birth of 1965 suggested on all statistics sites that he should have competed in the youth M55 category.
READ MORE. World Masters results from Gothenburg
Newly crowned world champion Moira West won her 100m and 200m in a swift 15.98/34.09, but also won the long jump in a British W75 record of 3.10m.
The wind, mostly a cross wind, while legitimately veered to the West, with -3.6 m/s and +3.6 m/s recorded in subsequent stages.
M40:
SP/DT: L Zambrzcki 11.98/35.35
M45:
1500 1 C West 4:33.01
M50:
100 (0.4)/200 (-0.8). D Olusanya 12.89/26.35
800 R Datnow 2:08.34
100H (1.7). 1 G Smith 14.56
HJ: V Ramsay 1.52
LJ: C Beecham 5.56 / 1.1
3000W. S Zennaro 16:43.50
M55:
100 (1.2)/200 (-0.8). B Zelechovski 12.37/25.70
M60:
100 (1.3). 1 B Steen 12.86; 2P Logan 12.87
400/800. 1 S Corfield 61.99/2:21.73
800ns: 1 A Ridley 2:07.45. 2 R McHarg 2:08.01
15001 D Williams 4:49.13
SP:: 1 K Baker 10.42
DT/HT: C Privett 41.19 / 37.56
M65:
100 (0.2). 1 J Brown 13.44
4001 Day 67.25
JT:1 S Langdon 39.58
M70:
JT: 1 M Bennett 33.36
M75:
SP/DT/JT. T Richards 10.12/31.65/28.25
M85:
400/800/1500. 1 D Milsom 1:56.42/4:13.37/8:43.34
W45:
800 1 L Durn 2:36.72
3000 WC Ha Kwok 17:29.76
W50:
800/1500. 1 S Lamb 2:37.01/5:19.25
80H (-0.7) / HJ. D Norman 13.24/1.40
DT/HT: S. Gonzalez 25.88/33.19
W60:
1500 C Elms 4:57.14 (World W60 rec)
HJ/LJ. 1 G Clarke 1.15 / 3.33
W65:
200 (-1.6). 1 A Owen 33.86
W75:
100 (-1.1)/200 (-1.6)/LJ. M West 15.98/34.09/3.10/-0.6 (UK rec)
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