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British Masters Indoor Athletic Championships
21st/22nd February.
Report – David Jones
These Championships are an annual event held at Lee Valley Indoor Stadium in London.
As many of you will be aware, you are deemed a Masters athlete at aged 35 and over and competitors competed against each other in 5 year age bands e.g. 35-39, 40-44 etc.
This year the championships attracted 658 competitors over the weekend and a crowded timetable saw some 147 events contested.
9 members of our Vets track and field team made the journey down to London and all were living the high life, having booked in to the Premier Inn Enfield en masse.
They returned, all having performed admirably, with an impressive haul of 4 golds, a silver and 2 bronze medals. Just reward for their commitment to winter training in what has seen some pretty appalling conditions.
It was noticeable over the weekend how many of our fellow competitors commented on both the quantity and quality of our contingent.
Makes you feel proud to be part of such a club
The Stratford athlete’s got off to a flying start on the Saturday with our international athlete Paula Williams claiming gold in just the 3rd event of the weekend – the W50 60m hurdles. Her time of 9.98 seconds was comfortably ahead of the 2nd placed runner’s time of 11.40. Paula went on to win gold in the shot put with a throw of 13.29m, which was 3.79 metres ahead of the second placed thrower. She then rounded off her weekend by claiming silver in the 60 metres, with a time of 8.61, just 0.15 of a second off 1st place.
I have long had the ambition of securing both the 800m and 1500m British Championship titles in the same year, having won the 1500m in 2020 and the 800m last year. I was absolutely delighted, considering how early it is in the year, with my time in the 800m of 3:05.50, an indoor PB. This was enough to secure gold by a margin of 7 seconds over the 2nd placed runner, John Exley of Oxford City AC, who I beat by just a second at the same championships last year. I then went on to claim my 2nd gold of the weekend on Sunday in the 1500m, thus realising my ambition of doing the double.
Andy List was another of our athletes who got their championships off to a flying start by winning bronze in the M65 60m hurdles with a time of 13.54, his first BMAF medal. His 3rd place finish in his 60m heat, in 8.86, wasn’t quite enough to secure a place in the final. He then ran a time of 28.91 in his first ever indoor 200m and finished off his weekend with 5th place in the shot put with a throw of 8.21m.
Mark Illingworth was experiencing an indoor championships of this magnitude for the 1st time and should be well pleased with his performances. He managed a 2nd placed finish in his 200m heat with a time of 30.58, just 0.14 of a second off a 1st place finish. He then achieved his aim of going sub 9 seconds in the 60m, finishing with a time of 8.94.
Mark commented that he was indeed pleased with his performance, setting two new indoor PBs and breaking 9 seconds for the 60 metres. He thought it an enjoyable weekend, spending time with team mates and catching up with competitors from other clubs. It reminded him of how enjoyable vets track and field is. He also made a plea to any members to come down to the track and give it a go, especially those who used to jump and throw and never thought that they could do it competitively as they got older.
Dave Wilson, competing in the M55 age category managed a 3rd place finish in his 200m heat with a time of 27.26 and ran a time of 8.47 in his 60m heat.
Dave’s thoughts on the weekend are as follows “I was relatively happy with my times and felt strong in my 200m heat, suggesting the winter training is going to plan. I was in a particularly strong heat for the 60m, drawn next to the eventual M55 champion but my time was okay as I was still feeling the fatigue from the previous days 200m. Overall though, it was great to be part of a strong Stratford team and enjoy seeing my fellow athletes performances, some of whom either hadn’t competed indoor before or raced a 200m on an indoor track. I think Stratford definitely made an impression, as a number of people mentioned how many athletes we had entered in the champs, which is something to be proud of and impressive when you consider the size of Stratford compared to other clubs”.
Elaine Ledden said that she was disappointed with her time of 34.18 in the 200m, although she had no reason to feel so, having endured a difficult 2025 with numerous injuries. Elaine was happier with her 10.07 time in the 60m, where she finished 3rd in her heat, qualifying her for the final where her time of 9.98, a PB, saw her finish in 4th place, narrowly missing out on a bronze by just 0.23 of a second. She rounded her weekend off with a shot put throw of 6.57m to see her finish in 5th place in her age category.
GB triathlete Emma Bexson set herself the difficult task of competing in the 200m, 800m and 1500m over the weekend. She ran a time of 36.53 to finish 4th in her 200m heat, 3:02.64 in the 800m and 6:04.43 in the 1500m, the most pleasing aspect of which was that she managed to run it completely pain free, which is not something she has been able to do for some time.
Kathryn Woodcock is a relative newcomer to Masters athletics and, as such, the weekend was a completely new experience for her. Having said that she acquitted herself admirably, recording a time of 39.23 to secure a 3rd place finish in her 200m heat and recording a time of 11.31 in the 60m. Her throw of 5:06 in the shot put earned her a 5th place finish.
Another of our international athletes Phil Brennan, added to his extensive medals collection by winning bronze in his 800m race. His time of 3:58.79 being a massive 40 seconds ahead of the 4th place finisher.
The Stratford contingent returned home tired and weary on Sunday and we should all be proud of their achievements.
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