World records for Andrew Ridley and Christine Harrison-Bloomfield in Lee Valley and John Wright in Sheffield highlighted another great weekend for British age group athletes.
Most British Masters eyes were on the first International London Masters at Lee Valley on Saturday (March 7) and in addition to the world rankings, there were a number of British bests for multiple world champions such as Claire Elms and Peter Giles. Steve Smith reports.
23 countries represented with a good turnout from France and Germany and it was probably the best quality Masters non-championship indoor event ever held in the UK, with top contender Caspars Casemax doing the bulk of the organisation.
Two-time world champion Andrew Ridley produced a stunning M60 800m.
The winner of the world indoor tournament already participated in the men’s main 800m with a score of 2:07.04.
Unfortunately, the clock at the track did not work in this event and so most of the stadium was unaware of his run as he covered the 400m in 62 seconds to finish sixth in 2:05.13, two seconds off his record.
It was once significantly faster than the M60 outdoor world mark and even the UK M55 indoor mark held by world champion Mark Symes.
The lead race was won by former 1:48er Andy Brown (2:01.18) from M45 and world champion Keith Hutchinson (2:02.79).
Ridley competes in the 800m and 1500m at the European Masters Championships in Torun and Britain could repeat the feat at last year’s outdoor championships, where they topped the medal table.
Harrison-Bloomfield, who ran for Britain at the 1999 World Indoor and Outdoor Championships, clocked a W55 world record 60m of 7.97.
It was initially announced as a European record due to some confusion over the recent mark in America, but further investigation revealed that it bettered the previous mark of 8.01 set by French star Nicole Alexis in 2015.
The Briton is confident he can run faster in Torun, where he will also run the 200m. Here he ran 27.12 in the longer event.
Also in stunning form was multiple world and European champion John Wright, who competed in the combined championships invitational in Sheffield.
Wright ran a breakthrough M65 400m of 55.44, which significantly improved the world indoor record. Guido Müller (Germany), the greatest masters athlete ever. who ran 56.63 22 years ago.
Wright’s mark was also faster than the outdoor record and faster than the young M60 UK record.
He runs 60m, 200m and 400m in Poland.
Back at Lee Valley, Evonne Williams, Britain’s all-time leading women’s thrower, broke the W85 shot put world record of 8.27m with a throw of 8.56m, which is being tipped as a world mark.
Interestingly, he has a longer mark of 8.62m certified by both the BMAF and the European Masters Association from the 2024 British Championships.
She is not competing in Poland and neither is British Masters record holder Claire Elms, who is attending her mother’s funeral when the championships begin.
Due to family problems and illness, she only competed twice this indoor season, but set world records in the 3000m and the mile.
The third seemed improbable as she decided not to go to the event until she knew her son was out of Dubai. The jump-off was five hours late in the evening, but fortunately the 1500m was the last race of the day, so he could compete.
Having not slept the night before, she wasn’t really expecting a record but thought she could beat her British record of 5:03.1, which was the world record until Ireland’s Anne Gilshinan improved it to 5:02.41 and a few days ago 4:58.80.
In a mixed race that saw plenty of laps with one competitor lasting more than 10 minutes, she bettered her British mark by three seconds but fell 0.83 seconds off the world record with a time of 4:59.63, just behind women’s W40 winner Kiraly Leigh-Jones’ 4:59.16.
She did have the consolation of being the oldest woman ever to break 5 minutes indoors or out at 62 now.
Gilshinan coincidentally missed the Elms World Mile by less than a second on Wednesday.
Elms, who currently holds 26 different British indoor, outdoor and road bests, also holds world outdoor W60 1500m and mile marks.
Another athlete who came close to the world record was Greek M65 high jumper Georgios Farmaks who jumped 1.76m and attempted 1.82m.
Roger Brooke improved his British M85 record to 1.06m.
Peter Giles easily broke the 32-year-old UK M80 record for 3000m in 13:30.78, but felt he could have gone faster but for a long time to battle the effects of Covid.
The race was won by M45 Gary Crash in 9:12.66.
In the 60m hurdles, three records were set in one race.
Carol Filer just missed out on the W70 world record, but her time of 11.44 was a British record, with W75 Emily McMahon behind her in a British record of 12.34, bettering Britain’s Sally Hine’s previous world record of 12.49.
He wasn’t sure at the time, but there seems a good chance that the mark is also a world record, besting Élian Piré’s 12.39 at the French championships.
McMahon competes in the 60m, 200m, hurdles and long jump in Poland, while Filer also competes in four events. Piret also competes for Torun’s hurdles.
In race four, Tony Bowman improved his M90 to 18.75. The tireless Bowman competed in seven events.
Eleanor Gatrell won the W45 shot with a British record of 12.80m.
British long jump records were set for W65 Suzanne Frisby (4.06m) and W70 Filer (3.54m), who are likely to be fit for Poland after injury last year.
Stephen McCauley came close to the UK M50 shot put record with a throw of 15.86m, while Alan Leiper was also not far off the M65 record with a throw of 13.32m.
The biggest clash of the meet came in the 60m with Swedish M45 all-around world champion Leon Martinez beating age group world record holder Dwayne Chambers in a strong finish 6.93 to 6.97.
Other notable 60m times were recorded by M50 Joshua Wood (7.42), M55 Kevin Crane (7.60), M65 Pat Logan (8.13), former European Cup winner M70 Chris Monk (8.95) and M90 Tony Bowman (12.18) and W60 Kirstin King (8.8).
In the Junior Masters 60m hurdles, world record holders M45 Mensah Elliott (8.18) and M55 Joe Appiah (8.50) both had impressive wins.
W65 Susan Frisby ran in 10.15 while the M60 had a close race between Neil Tunstall (9.50) and match announcer Don Brown (9.51).
There were some non-master competitors.
Senior female hurdlers Alice Barrett and Jasmine Khogali were both timed in 8.40, with 16-year-old Eken Ogbonna running 8.22 just behind Elliott.
M60 Andrew Pringle dominated the men’s pentathlon with 3097, while W45 Leanne Buxton won the women’s all-around with 3726 to W40 Naibari Rutter’s 3586.
W40 Kim Bopanna was the fastest woman in the 400m in 59.60, although European medalists W50 Sarah Loades (63.42) and W60 Lisa Thomas (67.79) produced age-best times.
Multiple 400m and 800m champion and W60 weight Virginia Mitchell (2:30.66) led British W50 champion Lynne Skinner (2:33.77) in the 800m.
M35 Damaine Benjamin was fastest in the 400m in 51.44, although M60 relay gold medalist Vol Odell (58.36) had the best age grade over the distance.
Lisa Gawthorne won the women’s 3000m in 10:49.56.
Non-masters Ranbir Singh was fastest in the 200m in 22.24 and M35 Byron Robinson (22.97) was fastest masters.
Despite running second in line, M60 Vincent Ely had the best age run and his 25.79 was only half a second off John Wright’s British best, while M80 Alan Long (32.76) and M70 Ian Broadhurst (28.10) also impressed.
W60 Kirstin King (29.97) produced the best female age group effort.
British M50 record holder Craig Beecham was the best of the long jumpers with a jump of 5.43m, although Bowman improved his British M90 to 2.20m.
Under 17 Oliver Densley took the top mark in the Nick Phipps Next Generation Vault at 4.06m with M60 Glyn Price (3.56m) the top master.
