Written by Bridget Cushen on 4 Nov 2016
Caroline Powell, Beardsell, TJ and Peters retain World Titles.
Throwers and jumpers rise to the occasion
British Masters excel in thrilling 200m finals here in the Western Australian athletic stadium where season’s best and national records were established as the world’s best sprinters clashed. Live streaming on www.perth2016.com now has over 60,000 followers. Neither the burning sun nor the swirling wind that is above the legal record limit, could prevent W70 Brenda Fee, Caroline Powell, Richard Beardsell, the popular Tamunonengiye-Ofori Ossai “TJ” to his devoted followers, or sprint supremo Stephen Peters from sweeping gold. The Spanish sprinter, Carolina Garcia Garson clashed again with the Indonesian Beijing Olympics hurdler, Debeh Erawati, in the W35 final, both sharing the same time, 25.27sec (w3.5). After scrutinising the photo finish, the gold went to the Spaniard. Claire Spurway beat the Olympian in the qualifying heat and despite giving it her best shot, she was just out of the medals here in a top quality international field. GBR vests were prominent in the 35 through to 90 age group finals.
Not everyone is happy however; the throwers complain that there is insufficient warm-up facilities and they only get a maximum of two throws before their competition. Why they did not complain before the final few days of competition, or go through the official channel i.e. through their official Team Manager who would have raised the problem at the daily Meeting, is puzzling. The pole vaulters had their own problems as the wind rattled the cross bar during the younger groups competition; accepting it was the same for all and apparently a regular occurrence here, they carried on. 10 sprinters went head to head in one group for the 100m final as even the photo finish judges were unable to separate them. The main track is open for training after 17.30 daily. Safety Rules do however make it difficult for the throwers to practice and we are sympathetic to that.
Carole Filer is notching up W60 world titles as she might at a local League, the heptathlon, hurdles, jumps and the relays to come! In the heats of the 400m, defending champion Antwon Dussett, USA clocked 51.49sec.