Masters runners battle it out for BMAF 5km titles at Battersea Park

The popular event on November 30 saw a British W65 record of 19:53 by Monica Williamson.

In cool and sunny conditions, British masters competed for national titles and there were many top performances across the age groups, although only W65 Monica Williamson could set a British best, Steve Smith reports.

The 500 entry limits were reached well before the closing date and the two main races saw impressive wins for M40 James Copeland and W35 Rebecca Piggott on a very narrow course, where the good weather did not favor more runners, walkers, dogs and bikes than usual.

There was also a clash with the South of England Masters in Greenford the previous day.

Copeland made a clear strike in the final kilometer for his biggest win to date and was close to his 15:01 PB in 15:04.

Until a few years ago he was in PB form, setting bests in the 10km (30:41), half marathon (68:51) and marathon (2:24:08 on debut).

Four seconds back, Thomas Almond, just four days after his 35th birthday, made his Masters debut with M35 gold.

Close behind was Adrian Mousset who retained his M50 title in 15:38 ahead of young M45 champion Nicolas Brown in 15:50.

800m and 1500m world champion Mark Symes also defended his title from last year when he took the M55 home by 24 seconds in 16:28.

The M60s produced one of the best quality races of the day as Andrew Leech defended his 5000m and 10,000m title from European champion Chris Upson in 16:42. World Masters indoor 1500m silver medalist David Williams recorded a lifetime best in third place.

Such was the quality that multi M60 world record holder Andrew Ridley could only finish fourth and Commonwealth Games marathon runner-up David Taylor seventh.

The M65 and senior men ran with the women, with Piggott, who won the South of England Southern Cross Country Championship over 5,000m in September, coming out on top.

Like Copeland, this was her first major masters race and her 17:24 gave her a 20 second lead over fellow W35 Sarah Winston.

Third over the line was W50 Carol Coulon, whose 17:49 was just five seconds off her PB, ahead of W40 and W45 champions Nicola Sutton and Zoe Oldfield.

W55 Kate Ramsey (18:33) and W60 Claire Elms (18:39) followed up their recent England & Ireland Masters international cross country wins.

Ramsey took gold with Elms by 42 seconds, beating the latter by 103 seconds, as he easily won the overall age prize in both races at Leeds.

Monica Williamson (19:53) was the other winner for Leeds as she won the W65s by 93 seconds, a good twelve seconds off Lynn Higgins’ all-time UK age group best.

European Masters W70 800m and 1500m champion Anna Garnier (22:50) and W75 Anne Dockery (24:23) dominated their age groups, as did W80 Janice Newman (28:20), who finished second all-time in her age group to Penny Elliott in 27:51.

In the senior men’s age groups, Paul Reddaway (18:27) added the Great Britain M65 5km title to his already won 5000m as Jonathan Haines, who won bronze in the international masters cross-country, easily took the M70 title in 19:24.

Frank Brennan (22:57) led the M75s, while as expected multiple world champion and musician Peter Giles (24:13) dominated the M80s.

Former West Ham youth player Dave Murekite, who has previously won the M75 and M80 titles, added M85 gold with a time of 26:31, which moved him to second Great Britain all-time in his age group behind Steve Charlton.

But (M35-64). 1 J Copeland (SCVAC, M40) 15:04; 2 T Almond (Rei P) 15:08; 3 M Revier (Soton) 15:13; 4 J Hurrell (Lon H, M40) 15:31; 5 M Stone (Newb, U40) 15:32; 6 M Boland-Cage (York) 15:35

M45: 1 N Browne (Serp) 15:52; 2 S Fabes (VP&TH) 16:08; 3 J Philip (S’oaks) 16:18
M50: 1 A Mussett (Colch) 15:38; 2 W Green (Serp) 15:50; 3 C Blackburn (Hol) 15:56; 4 J Perst (Traff) 16:15; 5 O Gosden (G&G) 16:18; 6 T South (Sun) 4:23 p.m
M55: 1 M Symes (AFD) 16:28; 2 M Weaver (High) 16:52; 3 J Allan (Alnw) 16:58; 4 T Booth (G&G) 17:02; 5 J Gonzalez-Armas (26.2) 17:25
M60: 1 A Leach (NHRR) 16:42; 2 C Upson (Cambus) 17:01; 3 D Williams (G&G) 17:13; 4 A Ridley (B’ton P) 17:32; 5 P Parry (B&W) 17:39; 6 J Burrell (Luce) 17:52; 7 D Taylor (Herne H) 17:53; 8 B Reynolds (THH) 17:58

M:35-44 TEAM. 1 Soton 47:22; 2 Reigate P 49:04; 3 Wimb W 50:43

M45-54 TEAM. 1 Serpentine 49:11; 2 Holland S 49:57; 3 D&C 50:28

M55-64 TEAM. 1 KJV 53:11; 2 D&C 53:14; 3 Highgate 53:15

M65+ (ran with women). 1 P Reddaway (Ware) 18:27; 2 D Ogden (S Lawn) 18:30; 3 K McDonald (Hill) 18:47; 4 Jay Haynes (Bish S, M70) 19:24; 5 P Hough (Shrop, M70) 20:01; 6 A Nesbit (Read RR) 20:04
M70: 3 G Raffle (Hart) 20:12; 4 M Forder (Wimb W) 20:27; 5 D Bedwell (B&W) 20:41; 6 D Pitt (Serp) 20:52
M75: 1 F Brennan (Tri) 22:57; 2 D Michael (Barn) 23:46; 3 D Jones (Strat) 24:39
M80: 1 P Giles (Herc W) 24:13; 2 T Rea (Heath) 25:46; 3 E Thorpe (Read RR) 31:52
M85: 1 D Moorekite (Lark) 26:31; 2 D Milsom (Hill) 31:13

M65 TEAM. 1 Warrington 64:28; 2 Horus J 67:23; 3 Tonbridge 71:20

Women (W35+). 1 R Piggott (Lon H) 17:24; 2 S Winstone (Soton) 17:44; 3 C Coulon (B&B, W50) 17:49, 4 N Sutton (Prest, W40) 17:53; 5 N Evans (Ton W40) 17:56; 5 Z Oldfield (Lough, W45) 18:16
W35: 3 S Giles (Alch) 18:23

W40: 3 M Koval (Swan) 18:32; 4 G Bailey (Havers) 18:34

W45: 2 n Densley (CAMB) 18:31; 3 and King (Hart) 7:00 p.m.; 4 Z Doyle (Wyc P) 19:02
W50: 2 N Sturzaker (Herne H) 18:30; 3 E Skinner (Kent) 18:33; 4 H Pool (Read RR) 7:29 p.m
W55: 1 K Ramsey (Charn) 18:33; 2 A Critchlow (W4) 19:15; 3 D Jeffery (Folk) 19:28; 4 N Gardiner (High) 20:42
W60: 1 C Elms (Kent) 18:39; 2 S Russell (High) 20:22; 3 L Woolhouse (Vets) 9pm; 4 L Chislett (Arena 80) 21:09; 5 J Smith (Ely) 21:16

W65: 1 M Williamson 19:53 (UK best); 2 P Whitter (Stragh) 21:26, 3 S Davies (B&W) 21:28; 4 L Tyler (Farn) 21:36; 5 M Minchella (S Shield) 21:43; 6 B Wenham (Cant) 21:46
W70: 1 Scarap (Tsov V) 22:50; 2 S Ellen (Norpse G) 25:04; 3 G Bullen (Thurr) 26:34; 4 J:
W75: 1 A Dockery (West) 24:23; 2 N Stanford (Serp) 27:15; 3 H Allen (Hart) 30:51
W80: 1 J Newman (Metro) 28:20; 2 P Rich (RA Val.) 33:56