Medal winning performances and other highlights from Day 1 of the European Masters Indoor Championships
Written by Bridget Cushen on 24/03/2015
Londoner, Ros Tabor, captured the first of the British Masters 7 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze medals on the opening day of the above Championships with a decisive W60 3000m victory. Margaret Phillips won the W65 title and the current British champions, Bernadine Pritchett, Joanne Locker and Louise Rudd followed on to take the W45, W35 and W40 races. The BMAF Cross-Country champion, Guy Bracken, led from gun to tape to win the M50 European title from a 27-strong field. With a few laps remaining he looked on schedule to break Nigel Gates’ 2004 8.49.37sec World Record, but slowed on the penultimate lap to finish in 8.52.38 from a fast finishing Ben Reynolds with the SWVAC’ Simon Anderson just out of the medals in 4th. David Oxland had to settle for a bronze in the 25-strong M60 race. Betty Stacey also got a silver in the Women’s 75 Group race.
Ayamba Akim cleared the same height (1.61m) as Laila Petersone in an entralling W40 high jump with the Latvian winning on countback.
The M35 400m final is building up to what could be the competition of the Championships as the British champion, Richard Beardsell faces the host nation’s Piotr Klimezak. They both blazed round their respective heats with Richard clocking 51.16 and Piotr 51.47sec. David Brown and Mark Davies also qualified for the final.