The results have been covered very well by Martin Duff in Athletics Weekly (March 11th), and will be given further coverage in the Spring edition of Masters Athletics, so what is there to say about these championships? Some on-the-ground comments seem appropriate, to complement Averil McClelland’s note in AW.
I’d never heard of Kamloops until learning two years ago that it was to be the venue for the 4th World Masters’ Indoor championships. Where is it? In a straight line, about 125 miles north-east of Vancouver. It is on the Trans-Canada Highway and main rail route across Canada and stands at the confluence of the North and South Thompson rivers.
Kamloops calls itself Canada’s “Tournament Capital”. The indoor facility is pretty good, although the 200m track is permanently flat – not something to endear it to sprinters! There is an excellent 400m outdoor track for warming-up but no provision for coping with bad weather. The throwing areas are better than many in Europe.
The Canadian people were unfailingly friendly and helpful so that any problems were dealt with cheerfully. There were said to be 1,000 volunteers helping, so we were never far away from someone willing to guide or help. The officials were excellent, leading some of our athletes to say that they were the best they had encountered in any championship. One experienced GB athlete said she normally comes back from a championship with a list of things that frustrated her, but this time had no complaints, only praise.
The number of competitors, at around 1,400, was well down on what could be expected in Europe. The economic situation and remoteness of the venue must have been major factors in this. Not surprisingly it meant the overall standard of performance was on the low side for a world championship. There was still some great competition, with a sprinkling of very good performances.Inevitably the host nation fielded the biggest contingent, with neighbours the USA not far behind. These two headed the medal table with our great rivals the Germans next and GB trailing a bit in 4th place. Considering the small size of our team this was an excellent result.
Just 58 GB Masters athletes turned up but two of those were then unable to compete because of injury flare-ups. The athletes were supported by a small group of family and friends. We had four residents of North America in our team – three from the USA and one from Vancouver. Three of these four were newcomers to international Masters competition and two of them picked up individual medals. Of these, Simon Martin, resident of Boulder, Colorado, performed well above his declared performances, which had been achieved at altitude. He won the M55 cross-country in one of the highlights of the week for the GB team, three Britons (pictured left at the award ceremony) battling it out all the way with one Norwegian. No prizes for guessing which team won that age-group! Simon’s team-mates, David Oxland (who did much of the leading until the closing stages) and Archie Jenkins, had an inkling something special was afoot when Simon in mid-race said “OK, which of us is Coe and who’s Ovett and who’s Cram?” Cheeky, but he delivered.
We had one athlete, Sonia Armitage, who was born at nearby Merritt and who spent her first four years in Kamloops before her family decamped back to Scotland. Sonia’s brilliant 800/1500 double wasn’t done the easy way – she went right to the front and opened a gap, making herself a target for the rest of the field. Sure enough they gathered themselves and charged after her in the closing stages, but Sonia had done just enough to prevent them catching her.
A tally of 71 medals (23 Gold, 27 Silver and 21 Bronze) from such a small team was a tremendous return. There were some outstanding individual efforts. It was wonderful to see Bill Gentleman back in action after a stroke, winning two gold medals, including an impressive effort in the M70 hammer (all 5 legal throws over 45 metres, with the best 47.33m). Other great throws performances came from Mark Wiseman (M40 treble gold), Camilla Thrush (W40) and Carol Derrien (W70).
It was nice to see Susie Tawney’s efforts rewarded with double gold on the track, in hard-fought races, plus cross-country team and relay silvers; and a hurdles gold and pentathlon silver for Hazel Barker, together with relay silver. Simon Anderson struck double gold as well, by a clear margin in the cross-country and by a narrower margin in the 1500 metres with a great finish, which was a fitting reward after the devastating disappointment of his dramatic fall in the world outdoors in Lahti, Finland, last summer while in a comfortable 2nd place. Simon also picked up silvers in the 3,000 metres and cross-country team, plus bronze in the relay, for a total of five medals.
There was double gold in the walks for Colin Turner, who is proving such a consistent performer in international indoor championships. Colin doesn’t do the summer international championships because he concentrates on officiating at many meetings. Yours truly had the galling experience of picking up an injury after 7k of the 10k road walk while leading my big Austrian rival and so lost the chance of avenging my indoor defeat! Here’s looking forward to the European championships in Hungary in July!
Steve Hallas exemplified the determination in the team by picking himself up from his sick bed to run 3,000 metres on Wednesday evening and then win his age-group in the half marathon on Saturday, followed by a creditable 1500 metres final the same day!
There were some very good team efforts. All four cross-country teams we were able to field won medals, two of them gold, including the W40 team of Sue Ridley, Jane Pidgeon and Lynne Marr, pictured right; and five more medals came from the nine scratch relay teams that were made up from almost anyone still standing on the last day.
The general feeling among our athletes was that the championships were a great success. The small team helped to engender really good team spirit. Those of experience expressed the view that these were the friendliest championships they had been to. The tone was set by the opening ceremony, which was the best I have experienced. My grateful thanks to all of the team and supporters, and to the Canadian people, for their wonderful spirit and friendliness.
JOHN HALL