England and Wales masters battle it out at Abingdon Marathon

 
This year’s masters representative marathon between England and Wales took place in Abingdon, Oxfordshire as part of the Abingdon Marathon. This was the 41st edition of a race which is run on a fast flat course - starting and finishing on the athletics track.

The race lived up to expectations with a great battle at the front between three masters men. It looked as though the overall race winner would be James Elgar of Wales (M40) who had led from the start and was looking good for victory. However, a combination of the wind, a twisty course and being out on his own for so long took their toll and he was caught between 39 and 40km by England athletes Tom Hollis (M40, Lonely Goat RC) and Jonathon Frost (M35, East Hull Harriers). As they headed back towards the track Tom kicked for home to take not only the M40 category win but also the overall race win with a time of 2:29:26, closely followed by Jonathon who took the M35 title and second place overall in 2:29:41. Despite struggling over the final kilometres, James battled on well to third place overall and second place in his M40 category.  

The women's race was equally exciting with Louise Flynn (Wales) and Claire Frankland (England, West End Runners) battling it out at the front of the field.  Louise led from the gun but Claire closed her down on several occasions before Louise finally proved too strong, storming round the track at the Tilsley stadium to take both the W40 title and the overall women's race in an excellent time of 2:46:41, with W35 Claire 22 seconds behind.

England took clean sweeps in the W50, W55, & W60 categories with Annabel Grainger (Bristol & West AC), Alice Riddell-Webster (Fulham RC), and Janet Worster (London City Runners, Urban Bettag) winning respectively. The M50 race winner was Martin Green (Wales) in 2:36:2, with David Robinson (England, City of Plymouth AC) coming in a close 2nd in 2:37:36. Third place went to Mark Jennings (England, Micky Morris Racing Team) 2:41:58. The 65-69 category saw Kevin Murray (England, Serpentine RC) edge out Kevin Shelton-Smith (England, Bedford Harriers), with Chris Finill (England, Harrow AC) taking third.

There were a number of athletes making their England debut including Tim Anderson (M65, Winchester RC), who started his running journey in July 2022 when he undertook his first parkrun - and ran 3:25:33 at Abingdon. Tim said:

"It was a great privilege to run in an England vest."

Fellow debutant Cal Lloyd (W50, Hillsborough & Rivelin RC) was delighted to come away with the third place prize, running a time of 3:18:15.

Results

M35
1: Jonathon Frost - 2:29:41 (England)
2: Aaron Barker - 2:35:35 (England)
3: Andy Gardiner - 2:39:09 (Wales)
M40
1: Tom Hollis - 2:29:26 (England)
2: James Elgar - 2:30:17 (Wales)
3: Mathew Cooper - 2:36:58 (England)
M45
1: Chris Filer - 2:37:22 (England)
2: Kevin Francis - 2:39:10 (England)
3: Matt Yelland - 2:41:22 (Wales)
M50
1: Martin Green - 2:36:21 (Wales)
2: David Robinson - 2:37:37 (England)
3: Mark Jennings - 2:41:58 (Wales)
M55
1: Paul Jones - 2:40:03 (England)
2: Matthew Lynas - 2:49:54 (England)
3: Nicholas Marsh - 2:50:51 (England)
M60
1: Robert McGrath - 2:53:19 (England)
2: Ian Middlebrook - 2:54:32 (England)
3: Jeremy Mower - 2:55:10 (Wales)
M65
1: Kevin Murray - 3:04:19 (England)
2: Kevin Shelton-Smith - 3:05:26 (England)
3: Chris Finill - 3:07:15 (England)
M70
1: Nick Sylvester - 3:28:08 (England)
2: Malc Gonnella - 3:46:17 (Wales)
3: Jeremy Woolley - 3:54:28 (England)
M75
1: David Winch - 4:01:34 (England)
2: Trevor Baker - 5:28:0 (England)

W35
1: Claire Frankland - 2:47:03 (England)
2: Katie King - 2:54:52 (England)
3: Abby Lewis - 2:58:03 (Wales)
W40
1: Louise Flynn - 2:46:41 (Wales)
2: Heather Hann - 2:51:51 (England)
3: Harriet Carr - 2:54:25 (England)
W45
1: Laura Ebbs - 2:54:42 (England)
2: Tracey Breedon - 2:59:58 (Wales)
3: Amy Dixon - 3:01:19 (England)
W50
1: Annabel Grainger - 2:53:44 (England)
2: Ruth Dadswell - 3:06:41 (England)
3: Cal Lloyd - 3:18:15 (England)
W55
1: Alice Riddell-Webster - 2:56:37 (England)
2: Teresa Medley - 3:10:16 (England)
3: Deborah Jeffery - 3:12:01 (England)
W60
1: Jane Worster - 3:27:31(England)
2: Janet Smith - 3:29:07 (England)
3: Bev Jackson - 3:29:50 (England)
W65
1: Linda Tyler - 3:31:40 (Wales)
2: Nora Haggart - 3:45:43 (England)
3: Jane Davies - 3:48:14 (England)
W70
1: Lisa Compton - 4:11:37 (England)
2: Kate Waddicor - 4:28:55 (England)
3: Jane Wall - 4:31: 32 (England)
W75
1: Jane Ashby - 4:16:55 (England)

England Athletics Masters Endurance Training Days

While Abingdon was the final race action of 2025 there is still time to be involved in the Masters programme by joining the team in Shrewsbury 2 November for the first of the season’s England Athletics Masters Endurance Training Days.