Author: Steve Smythe
Britain’s 800m men enjoy gold rush on day nine of of the European Masters Championships
Britain had another good day at the European Masters Championships in Italy, winning 10 gold medals with six coming at 800m, three at 5000m and one at the pole vault.
The men had yet another great patch in the 800m, winning three races in a row with Paul Fletcher’s M60 win probably the highlight as he won his third gold on the track after the 1500m and 10,000m, never having previously won a major title.
First to strike though was Clare Elms in the 5000m at Eraklea, as she won her fifth gold medal and was the only British winner in the morning.
In very hot conditions and with an 800m to run later in the day, she tried to ease around behind Sweden’s 10,000m runner-up Karin Schon until the penultimate lap. Her gentle acceleration saw her win by 17 seconds from the Swede though the time of 19:00.30 was much faster than she was expecting to have to run. Elke Hausler took bronze in 21:27.01.
Other British medals were won by W70 Carolyn Gale (25:06.22) and W75 Betty Stracey (33:21.80) who won respective silver and bronze.