Masters stars shine at Great Run Birmingham 10k International

Glorious sunshine greeted Team England and Wales athletes for the annual international representative 10km race held in Birmingham this year as part of the Great Run series.

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

Team England edged out 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) proved that chronological age is just a number as the white jackets continued to come home through the finish funnel.

In a highly competitive men’s race, M35 Stephen Blake (31m16s) and M40 Ben Kruze (31m53s) led the host nation with outstanding performances from M45 Jan Bailey (32m45s), M50 Adrian Mussett (32m05s) and M55 Francois Rafferty (35m11 ) ).

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

England Masters Athletics Road Running Coordinator Chris Hollinshead commented:

“It’s great to see this programme, which is a celebration of the masters running, going from strength to strength. We’ve had great feedback from some of the athletes and as a team it’s given me immense satisfaction to see the joy and excitement the athletes have when they don their England jersey, whether they’re debutants or adding to their caps England.”