4th April 2019. World Masters Indoor Championships.
The 8th version of the WMA Indoor Championships took place in Torun, Poland from 24th to 30th March with the British contingent finishing 4th in the medals table with a total of 166 (60 gold, 58 silver and 48 bronze). Germany once again headed the list with 262 medals (100 gold) followed by USA with 159 (62 g) and Poland with 182 (60 g).
To my knowledge 21 Scots competed winning a total of 4 individual and 6 team/relay medals. As I no longer either compete or officiate I have kind of lost track of Scottish athletes so I apologise now for anyone I have omitted from the undernoted.
Four new Scottish Masters best performances were set with Bob Douglas (Livingston) recording a time of 63.60s in the in his heat of the M65 400m to add to his 200m best from the Scottish Masters Championships and Colin Welsh (Gala) bettered his own best from the BMAF Championships with 1m 59.51s in his M35 800m heat. Jamie Creighton (Liverpool) cleared 1.90m in finishing 4th in the M35 high jump and Ron Todd (Central) cleared 3.35m for 10th place in the M55 pole vault.
Medallists:-
Jacqui Etherington (Cambuslang) won bronze in both the individual W40 8k cross country and team event as well as a silver in the 4 x 200m relay. Anne Howie (Aberdeen) won bronze in the W55 1500m (5:17.22), Alison Murray (Hercules Wimbledon) bronze in the W50 pole vault (2.80m), Gillian Cooke (Edinburgh) silver in the W35 long jump (5.36m), Susan Ridley (Edinburgh) gold in the W50 cross country team, Ronnie Hunter (Corstorphine) silver in the M55 4 x 200m relay, Brett Rund (Edinburgh) gold in the M40 4 x 200m relay and Bob Douglas silver in the M65 4 x 200m relay.
Other results:-
Jacqui Etherington 5th in the W40 800m (2:25.25), 5th in the 1500m (4:52.38) and 5th in the 3000m (10:50.31).
Anne Howie 5th in the W55 800m (2:37.59, heat 2:36.82).
Susan Ridley 8th in W50 3000m (11: 29.06s) and 5th in 8k xc .
Brian Scally (Shettleston) 11th in the M50 half marathon (1h 20m 03s.)
Ronnie Hunter heats of the M55 60m (8.11s) and 200m (26.47s).
Brett Rund sf of the M40 200m (23.55s, heat 23.35s) and 6th in the 400m (51.62s).
Bob Douglas sf of the M65 200m (29.39s, heat 28.53s).
Fiona Steele (Motherwell) heat of the W50 60m (9.03s) and sf of the 200m (29.52s, heat 29.47s).
Colin Welsh (Gala) 9th in the M35 800m (2:02.31, heat 1:59.51) and 11th in the 1500m (4:19.07s, heat 4:11.40).
Andy Ronald (Falkirk) heats of M50 M50 800m (2:16.32s) and 1500m (4:35.25).
Paul Forbes (Edinburgh) 6th in M60 800m (2:20.36, heat 2:20.24).
John Thomson (Fife) 4th in the M60 1500m (4: 50.84).
Chris Upson (Cambuslang) 18th in M55 3000m (10:27.33) and 22nd in 8 k cross country.
Allan Leiper (Aldershot, Farnham & Dist) nh in M55 pole vault, 6th in the shot (12.67m) and 14th in the discus (28.12m).
Jim Sloan (Annan) 10th in the M75 shot (9.70m) and 10th in the discus (27.11m).
Claire Cameron (VP Glasgow) 15th in W60 weight (11.04m), 14th in the hammer (25.98m) and 6th in the discus (25.56m).
Dave Valentine (West Suffolk) 6th in M60 weight (17.17m) and 4th in the hammer (47.92m).
Well done to all competitors and again apologies to any I have missed.
22nd March 2019. British Masters Indoor T&F Championships and Winter Throws Competition.
The BMAF T&F Indoors and Winter Throws took place at Lee Valley, London over the weekend 9th/10th March with Scots athletes winning a total of 28 medals (7 gold, 16 silver and 5 bronze) and setting two Scottish Masters best performances at the indoor championships.
Gillian Cooke (Edinburgh) secured a golden double in the W35 pole vault, in a new Scottish Masters best performance, with a 3.30m clearance and long jump with 5.21m as did John Thomson (Fife) in the M60 800m with 2m 26.14s and 1500m in 5m 5.66s. Other winners were Claire Cameron (VP Glasgow) in the W60 shot with 9.47m, John Coyle (Garscube) in the M45 3000m with a time of 9m 45.15s and Allan Leiper (Aldershot, Farnham & Dist) in the M55 shot with a throw of 12.80m.
James Smith (Motherwell) claimed four silver medals in the M70 age group, 60m in 9.22s, 200m in 30.79, triple jump with 8.63m and long jump with 3.64m, Jacqui Etherington (Cambuslang) won three in the W40 category, 800m in 2m 28.74s, 1500m in 5m 6.47s and 3000m in 11m 6.11s and Graeme Armstrong won two, the M60 60m in 8.25s and 200m in 27.35s. Other silver medal winners were Alison Murray ( Hercules Wimbledon) W50 pole vault with 2.81m, Colin Welsh (Gala) M35 1500m in 4m 9.50s, Ian Johnston (SVHC) M50 3000m in 9m 48s, Paul Masterton (Corstorphine) M55 high jump with 1.49m, Ron Todd (Central) M55 pole vault with 3.20m, John McGarry (Irvine) M65 60m in 8.63s and Bill Lonsdale (Aberdeen) M65 long jump with 4.19m.
In addition to his silver in the 1500m Colin Welsh won bronze in the M35 800m in 1m 59.78s which is a Scottish Masters best performance, whilst further bronze medal winners were Gary Leek (Edinburgh) M55 60m in 8.05s, Gary’s son Stephen in the M35 long jump with 5.73m,
Jim Sloan (Annan) M75 shot with 9.66m and Dean Kane (Inverness) M35 3000m in 10m 7.85s.
In the throws Claire Cameron won the W60 weight with 11.21m discus with 26.02m and came third in the hammer with25.74m. Jim Sloan came second in the M75 discus with 28.56m, Allan Leiper second in the M55 discus with 37.89m and Stephen Leek third in the M35 discus with 25.09m.
Well done to all Scots competing .
3rd March 2019. Scottish Masters Indoor Combined Events Championships.
The combined events competition took place in over the weekend 16th and 17th February and saw M60 Brian Slaughter (Eastbourne) win the male heptathlon competition with a total of 5126 points ahead of M70 Bob Masson (Aberdeen) with 4870 points. As best placed scot Bob won the Steedman medal (I assume that Scottish Athletics are still presenting the medal) and also had the consolation of setting two Scottish Masters best performances in the high jump with 1.33m and pole vault with 2.65m.
In the woman’s pentathlon competition W45 Amanda Broadhurst (Wrexham) won with a total of 2976 points.
3rd March 2019. Scottish Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The Indoor T&F Champs took place in the Emirates Arena on Sunday 17th February and some excellent performances were witnessed.
Six new Scottish Masters best performances were recorded and another equalled. Bobby Stevenson (Ayr) set new figures in the M65 category winning the long jump with a leap of 4.75m and the triple jump with 10.10m and Fred Cowan equalled this feat with new bests in winning the M85 200m and 400m double with times of 44.00s and 1m 31.97s respectively. Fred’s 400m time is superior to the current British record of 1m 40.37s held by Eric Shirley so I hope that the necessary paperwork has been completed and submitted to BMAF for ratification. John Ross (Corstorphine) also set a 400m best in the M80 category with a time of 1m 29.18s but lost his M65 200m best when Bob Douglas (Livingston) won the event in 28.38s, one hundredth of a second faster than John’s time from 2004. Linzi Marsh (Edinburgh) equalled the W40 best with a winning clearance at 1.40m.
With the 3000m championships (held in January) included 22 Championship best performances were set and another equalled. In addition to Fred Cowan, Bob Douglas, John Ross and Bobby Stevenson’s performances mentioned above new championship bests were set by:-
Andrew Lewis (Harrow) M50 60m hurdles (8.98s) and long jump (5.79m)
Mary Barrett (Loughrea, Ireland) W60 60m hurdles (11.87s), shot (10.12m) and high jump (1.20m)
Bob Douglas (Livingston) M65 400m (64.71s)
Jacqui Hodgson (Durham) W50 200m (28.63s) and 400m (64.82s)
Kathleen Stewart (North Shields) W75 60m (11.78s) and 200m (39.32s)
Catriona Pennet (Edinburgh) W35 60m hurdles (9.35s)
Robert Biggar (N. Ireland) M60 1500m (4m 51.05s)
Bobby Young (Clydesdale) M75 1500m (6m 04.72s) and 3000m (12m 39.28s)
Stuart Gibson (Cambuslang ) M35 3000m (8m 39.04s)
Jacqui Etherington (Cambuslang) W40 800m (2m 25.45s)
Ian Horsburgh (Central) equalled the M40 60m best in 7.32s.
Well done to all competitors and good luck to those intending to compete at the BMAF Indoors and winter throws competition at Lee Valley next weekend and at the World Masters Indoors in Torun, Poland from 24th to 30th March.
I’ll keep an eye on Scottish performances.