Masters stars shine at the Great Run Birmingham 10k International

Glorious sunshine greeted Team England and Wales athletes for the annual Representative International 10k Race, staged this year in Birmingham as part of the Great Run series.

F35 Gemma Steel (34m06s) proved that she is still capable of holding her own amongst the very best seniors as she took the overall race as well as an age category win. There were similarly superb performances from F40 Helen Gaunt (35m36s), F45 Kirsty Longley (36m22s) and F50 Danielle Jepson (38m58s).

Team England outshone their rivals as F55 Rachel Cooke (37m11s), F60 Geraldine Moffatt (39m33s) and F65 Jacqueline Cordingly (45m15s) produced eye catching performances in the mid-morning heat. Meanwhile F70 Dorothy Kesterton (47m01s) and F75 Angela Copson (48m54s) vindicated the belief chronological age is but a number as the white vests continued to storm home through the finish funnel.

In a highly competitive Men’s race, M35 Stephen Blake (31m16s) and M40 Ben Kruze (31m53s) led the way for the home nation with sterling performances from M45 Jan Bailey (32m45s), M50 Adrian Mussett (32m05s) and M55 Francois Rafferty (35m11s).

Team England continued to dominate through the ranks with M60 Stephen Watmough (36m40s), M65 Richard Drage (38m47s) and M70 David McLean (41m20s) shining brightly, whilst the evergreen M75 David Dibben and M80 David Moorekite (52m45s) anchored the team home to a comfortable victory over the Welsh team.

England Athletics Masters Road Running Coordinator Chris Hollinshead commented,

“It’s great to see this programme, which is a celebration of masters running, going from strength to strength. We have had some wonderful feedback from some of the athletes and as a team we got immense satisfaction from seeing the joy and excitement that athletes had when pulling on the England vest, whether they were a debutant or were adding to their England caps.”