Inaugural masters titles for Blackheath and Bromley Harrier and Dulwich Runner

Masters debutants Ed Chuck and Andrea Clement were clear winners of the BMAF Championships which attracted a very healthy entry of 400 runners at a superbly organised event at Somerhill Park .

Dulwich Runner Chuck, who only entered the 8km race just over a week before having planned to run the following day’s Paddock Wood Half-Marathon, was persuaded after a career best 61st in the English National at Parliament Hill to make his Vets debut.

He was immediately at the front of the field alongside Gloucester’s James Denne and it was not long before he had opened up a lead.

His run in the English National had not gone entirely to plan as his shoe had come off early on and then he had to work his way back past hundreds of runners to get where he did. Chuck also had calf cramps and they returned during the considerable tough climbs in Somerhill Park, meaning that he had to ease right back.

However, Chuck was able to stretch away on some of the long downhill stretches and eventually won in 28:44 from fellow M35’s Denne (29:13) and organising club Tonbridge’s Ben Cole (29:18).

Already a Surrey 5000m and 10,000m senior champion, Chuck  turned M35 less than a month earlier and he is been in personal best form all winter having run 14:36 for 5km and 30:38 for 10km.

Fourth across the line was M40 winner Gary Laybourne who was 46th in the 2020 English National but was doing his first race of 2022.

Tonbridge’s Daniel Bradley was fifth ahead of Tunbridge Wells’ Will Levett who took M45 gold in 29:46.

Following him home in the M45s was Phil Tedd (30:47) and former Masters International winner Chris Greenwood (30:51).

Epson’s Steve Winder followed up his Southern Masters victory with another title as he led home the M50’s in 31:04 from Simon Baines (31:35) and Andy Morgan Lee (32:42).

Getting among the M50 medallists were the leading M55’s.

The European Masters 10,000m champion Andrew Leach won in 31:25 from fellow 58 year-old and former world masters champion Ben Reynolds (31:49). Kevin Usher took bronze in 32:23.

Welsh athletes were in short supply but Ifan Lloyd dominated the M60 category in 33:15 and go one better than he had in the 2020 Championships.

Peter Knight (33:34) and Mark Cursons (33:57) took the other M60 medals.

The overall women’s 6km winner Clement had been 40th in the National (and first W35) and she had been on maternity leave between 2016 and 2020. A former 33:29.94 10,000m performer in 2010 when she actually won the New Zealand title she initially sat behind Elle Baker.

Baker, the British Championships/CAU runner-up in 2016 and a regular in Britain’s world and European cross-country teams, eventually had to led Clement go and the Blackheath athlete won by 30 seconds in 24:49.

Sarah Winstone, who ran a 35:42 PB for 10km the previous week, like the first two, was also running her first Masters race, was a clear third in 25:42 and she led Southampton to team victory.

Another W35 was fourth and former overall champion Rebecca Luxton finishing in 26:04.

Next in was another outright champion (in 2010) W55 Clare Elms (26:07) and the now 58 year-old  remarkably defeated the W40, W45 and W50 champions.

She achieved her highest position since 2013 and outsprinted W45 champion and multi international winner Clare Martin (26:15), who herself won this race back in 2015 and it was the first time Elms had ever beaten the 11 year-younger Martin at the 16th attempt.

She won W55 gold by over four minutes from Rachel Brunswick (30:08).

Next in was M65 winner Kevin Newman (26:33) who had his biggest win to date and he was followed in by South of England overall masters champion Carole Coulon (26:45) who took W45 silver.

Ninth overall was W50 champion Jane Gandee (27:10) and the top 10 was completed by improving Julie Backley (27:22) who won W50 silver and she was supported by her brother Steve a world and Olympic silver medallist in the javelin himself!

The W40 winner was back in 12th with Madeleine Armstrong -Plieth taking the title in 27:37 just ahead of M65 runner-up Jonathan Haynes (27:38).

Monica Williamson won W60 gold in 28:02 while Des Michael won the M70 title in 30:41 while Richard Bloom won the M75 title in 32:42.

The best quality age group of the day were the W70s.

Hong Kong Olympic marathoner Yuko Gordon carried on the form that has seen her set world age group marathon records with a time of 32:26.

She was followed in by another Olympian in the form of Montreal 1500m semi-finalist Penny Forse (33:03) who won a battle against multi world and European champion Angela Copson (34:09) who had previously dominated the older age groups in this race and the Masters International but is now aged 74.

Behind the W70 medallists came W65 champion Maggie Statham-Berry (34:40), M80 winner Dave Moorekite (42:18) and W75 champion Pauline Rich (43:24).

Gordon and Forse were not the only Olympians in the race as 1980 Olympic marathoner Ian Thompson also competed.

In 1974 Thompson was the world’s fastest and world ranked No. 1 marathoner when he won the European and Commonwealth titles (the latter in an European and British record 2:09:12.

Here he said he was competing as wife Margaret’s bag carrier. She too herself was a British record-holder and she took the W65 silver.

Detailed results to follow…