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MASTERS ATHLETICS SPRING 2013.
Teams Crawley 30; Woodford Green & Essex Ladies
31; 3 South London Harriers 33.
The first Over 60 runner in the race and 26th
overall in 38:52 was STEWART THORP of
Oxford City AC which was the winning 60 age
group team
He said "I used to dabble in athletics but only really
took it seriously when I joined Oxford City when I was
55. John Exley is the 'Guru' there.' He added ' I quite
enjoy the National events when you are up against the
best and whoever turns up."
LUCY ELLIOTT went into the lead in the Southern
Veterans 40-49 race after the short lap and going down
the hill and won eventually by a wide margin from Julie
Briggs and Clare Elms, like Elliott a W45 runner with a
'great' master’s record.
First six of 75 finishers 1 Lucy Elliott (Winchester &
District AC) 24.56; (W45), 2 Julie Briggs (Arena 80)
25.42; 3 Clare Elms (Dulwich Runners) W45;26:04, 4
Anna Critchlow (West 4 Harriers) 26:39; 5 Vicki Clark
(Arena 80) 27.05; 6 Linda Jackson (Woodford Green &
Essex Ladies) 27.06. First 3 teams Arena 80- 17; 2
Dulwich Runners 28; 3 London Heathside AC 49.
Remarkably, Lucy Elliott, was a W45' when she was
third in the Southern Counties Championship Senior
Women’s Championships at Brighton early in the year.
Lucy bridled against being a veteran competitor till she
was into her 40's and she has been British Masters
Cross country Champion for two years. She ran for a
strong Shaftesbury Barnet athletics team before going
to Winchester and running well for them.
She claims three of her best performances as coming
18th in the World Cross Country 1997 and winning the
Inter-Counties cross country Championships in 1995
and 1997.
However prior to the Southern Vets at Claybury things
were not an easy road as she explains
"I am getting back into it really, after a bit of an 'Iffy'
summer with a kidney infection that put me out for a
while. I think I probably had the infection all summer
and I did not know it but once it got into my kidneys it
was serious and I ended up in hospital.'
'I have been training quite a few weeks now. I feel I am
getting back to where I was last year now."
About her Winchester & District club she said "We are
building up hopefully, not quite got the team
Shaftesbury had but getting there. In a couple of years
we should get a solid team together. "
Lucy Elliott appears to enjoy her racing "I am quite
happy although, I have had injuries but nothing major. I
don't do a lot miles. Consistency is the name of the
game and to not overdo things."
Although Mary McCarthy, who was 17th was the first
W50 category in 28.21, ahead of her in 15th place was
the first W55 runner Fiona Kennedy of Ealing &
Southall & Middx AC in 28:02.
FIONA KENNEDY:- John Flavey, her husband runs
for Ealing said to me that Fiona liked to race in
open competitions rather than masters races (She
was 6th in the Liddiard Cup race on the 24th of
November and in the 2nd team home also and 27th of
68 in the North London Cross Country Championships
in October).
I still, I suppose, like to think of myself as a general
athlete rather than a master'
She added ' The trouble with master’s athletics is
sometimes you don't actually have all the best people
there.'
However, she also remarked "It is nice to win a medal
but it does not always mean you are the best. There
was a lady in my age group who was not here and
might have beaten me.'
Her job is interesting "It gives me flexibility with my
training which is good. I organise corporate events and
conferences, so it is not a 9 to 5 job. I have got that
opportunity to train which is nice'
'I like cross-country racing. In the winter it is a good way
of getting in a bit of extra running.'
Regarding things like the Liddiard Cup race for women
"I always enjoy it but it was a bit wet this year.'
'Probably the biggest satisfaction for her was:-"In my
early 40's I got inside 37 minutes for 10k and I did that
a few times."
Fiona Kennedy first started running at 35 but before
that it was aerobic. She was always and active person.
"John Flavey got me started. I am really glad he did as
before that I never actually enjoyed running. Running
gave me an extra dimension to my life I would not have
had otherwise, and I have made lots of friends through
it."
BMAF CROSS
COUNTRY
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Words: Mel James
Pics: Dave Hewitson
A great day of racing produced at
Herrington Country Park.
This year’s championships took us north to Sunderland.
Herrington Park is a beautiful country park, transformed
from an industrial area, (a former Durham coal mining
site) to a venue now used for various sports and even the
occasional rock concert.
The north of England had seen lots of snow in the preceding
weeks and it had once again been forecasted as a possibility
for the area on this weekend.
Fortunately the snow held off, but we were left with an
extremely cold wind blowing across this exposed “hour glass
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