Mark Symes, Nigel Gates, Clare Elms and Angela Copson feature in this growing yearly event.
Author: Bridget Cushen
For the second successive year we incorporated our 1-Mile Road Championships with the Vitality London 1-Mile races held again in The Mall, London on Sunday 26th. In ideal weather and Peter Kennedy’s seeding preparations, our members had an opportunity for a great race and they travelled in from all over the country to run on the wide sweeping traffic free roads in ideal weather.
Alyson Dixon made the long trip down from Sunderland to take her second W40 BMAF Championships title here in 5.01, she had already claimed the 10km in Blythe last month.
However, it was running machine Clare Elms, ageless Angela Copson, multi title holder Mark Symes and the return to top class racing of Nigel Gates that made this Championship so competitive. All for of them set new Best Age Group Records!
Clare Elms and Angela Copson literally took the W55 and W70 Best times to shreads. Clare’s winning time 5.10sec not only erased Jane Clarke’s 2015 time from the Record books, but hit a 103% Age Grading performance. Angela ran 6.30sec to knock a full minute off Pat Gallagher’s W70 7.31sec mark set in Cardiff in 2016; reaching a record 107% on the Age Grading scale.
Mark Symes won the BMAF M50 800m and 1500m on the track last year before going on to capture the double in the World Championships in the heat of Malaga last September. The Tad Dicker coached Aldershot man then turned his attention to the Indoor this winter, capturing the BMAF 800/1500m double and the World Indoor in Torun. He now has the 1-mile road title, won here in a Chip time of 4.35sec (Gun 4.37), to add to his M50 tally and takes the 4.44sec Best time away from the Bournemouth runner Andrew Ridley who has held it since 2015.
Nigel Gates has been a great stalwart of Masters athletics, now in the M65 group, the South West Vets AC member races around the Westminster streets in 5.20sec to knock a full 7sec off Peter Molloy’s 2014 mark set in Cardiff and was considered a formidable mark.
Beautiful Salvers were presented by Westminster Council to the Best three Male and Female Overall performances, based on Age Grading. Winners were Claire Elms, Angela Copson, Ros Tabor, Mark Symes, Nigel Gates and Anthony O’Brien. Finally, a Photo Shoot in front of Buckingham Palace of some of the winners concluded a most satisfactory and enjoyable BMAF Championships. The full results are on our website : https://bmaf.org.uk/latest-results/