Success for England Masters at inaugural track 3000m

England athletes were the victors in the first ever Welsh Athletics v England Athletics Masters 3,000m International. The organisers of the Tonypandy Classic hosted this first track international - and what a privilege it was for the masters to be part of such a great event, sponsored by On Running.

Athletes of all ages and abilities competed in the stunning setting of the King George V Track in the Welsh town of Tonypandy.

First up was the women's W50 to W64 race which had two athletes from England and two from Wales, incorporated into the Welsh 3,000m for U20 women. Michelle Lee (Forest of Dean AC) dominated the masters' race from start to finish, completing the distance in a great time of 11:23.69 just behind the second placed U20. Thanks to the generous support of On Running she took away a £250 voucher as well as the trophy for the best age-graded woman’s performance.

There were three W60 athletes and throughout the race there was a great England - Wales battle between Rosemary Lane (Reading Roadrunners) and Yvonne Hill (Oswestry Olympians) with both athletes stepping on the track for the first time in many years. At the start of the last lap Yvonne was leading, but Rosemary dug in and with a couple of kicks on the top bend, managed to prevail and take the W60 trophy. Rosemary attended the first England Athletics winter training day last November and was inspired to try and attain an England vest, and reported after her race:

"It's an incredible feeling and an honour to be wearing the England vest!"

There were 12 athletes in the men’s race, six from each country, but with only M40 and M45 athletes competing. Craig Berryman (Havant AC) took up the running from the off with Mark Gittins (Helsby Running Club) on his shoulder and leading the M45 age group. It stayed that way until two laps to go when Mark put in a surge and managed to get away to win comfortably and take home both the M45 trophy and the £250 voucher from On Running for the best age-graded men's performance of the day. Vaughan Edwards (Les Croupiers, Wales) was only just behind on the age-graded tables.

The whole event made for a great evening and one that we hope will be repeated. A big thank you to James Thie and his organising committee and volunteers at the Tonypandy Classic, to On Running for their generous support, and to the athletes from Wales and England who made it such a great event.

Article by Bernie Jones, Wales Team Manager

Results

Women
1 Michelle Lee (W50), England 11:23.69
2 Rosemary Lane (W60), England 12:58.56
3 Yvonne Hill (W60), Wales 13:02.38
4 Dawn Broom (W60), Wales 13:29.96

Men
1 Mark Gittins (M45), England 9:04.95
2 Craig Berryman (M40), England 9:09.26
3 Gary Crush (M45), England 9:12.30
4 Matthew Lusby (M40), England 9:12.51
5 Vaughan Edwards (M45), Wales 9:14.25
6 Sion Lewis (M40), Wales 9:19.86
7 Doug Nicholls (M45), Wales 9:25.11
8 James Wardman (M45), England 9:30.40
9 Mitch Blundell (M40), England 9:47.49
10 James Raven (M45), Wales 9:54.64
11 Dean Johnson (M40), Wales 9:55.64
12 Johnny Frampton (M45), Wales 10:08.83