The Grosseto 2022 European Masters Athletics Non-Stadia Championships are over, and there are plenty of British athletes coming home with medals.
The British team finished sixth in the medal table, accruing 20 medals throughout their time in Italy.
10K Race Walk
The first event of the championships was the 10 kilometre race walk, an Ian Richards brought home individual and team medals across two age groups.
An individual M70 bronze was accompanied by an M60 team silver, as he was joined on the second step of the podium by Colin Harle and Ian Torode (M65).
10K
Over the same distance, but running this time, the W55 age group produced a glut of medals.
Clare Elms took victory in 41:09, with Sue Ridley’s 44:58 giving her bronze. With Cathy Flitcroft’s 45:26 giving a full team, the Brits took home a team gold.
An age group below, Val Woodland’s 44:52 meant an individual bronze, while 47:46 saw Mary Mackin secure a medal of the same colour in the W65s.
The sole medal on the men’s side was for Ron Cattle, an M70 bronze after he came home in 43:39.
5K
In the shortest event on offer, there were individual medals for John Skelton (M70, 19:37) and again for Elms (W55, 18:41).
Two women’s teams came home with silver, as Katy Roy, Beth Thompson (W40) and Woodland (W50) made up a British W35 team, while Elms, Sue Ridley, and Debbie Matchett were a medal-winning W55 trio.
On the men’s side, a pair of bronzes. David Coak, Richard Waldron, and Lee Llewellyn (M40) took third spot for the M35s, whilst Phil Jones, Andy Murray, and Rob Sergent got things done for the M65s.
Half Marathon
Capping off a rather remarkable trip to Tuscany, 87:48 saw Elms become a treble W55 champion in her longest effort of the championships.
Tony Martin was the Brits’ other individual champion over the half marathon distance — an experience he wrote about for MAUK — coming home in 89:50 to take an M70 title.
In the W65s, Margaret Martin matched her husband’s medal-winning escapades, the Fife athlete running 1:48:58 for bronze.
Both Martins also contributed to team medals, as Tony aged down all the way to the M35 age group to win gold alongside Mark Hayter and Greg Mimms. Margaret, alongside Beth Thompson and Elms, made up a second-placed W40 team.
A trio of M55s also won team silver — Rob Bentley, Peter Clough, and Andy Parkin secured something shiny, with Bentley’s 80:47 the fastest of any Brit on the day.