In windy conditions at Tooting in south London, the W60 athlete clocks 4:57.14 on a day when veterans Andrew Ridley and Rob McHarg also excel over 800m
Britain’s most prolific masters 1500m and mile record-setter, Clare Elms, produced one of her most pleasing ever performances when she broke the world W60 1500m record and became the oldest woman to ever break five minutes with 4:57.14 at the Veterans AC championships at Tooting on Saturday (Aug 31).
Until last year the record had been 5:06.63 by German Lidia Zentner set in 2013 when she became the first W60 to go inside 5:10 and then American Sue McDonald ran 5:04.27 and 5:02.38 in 2023.
That record was broken last week when Ireland’s Anne Gilshinan ran 4:59.45 to win world masters gold in Gothenburg. Gilshinan, McDonald and Zentner all have won overall world masters athlete of year awards.
The Kent AC athlete who currently holds 24 different British age-group records, has now set world marks indoors and out as a W50, W55 and W60 at both 1500m and mile.
After recent UK marks at both 800m (2:29.64) and 3000m (10:33.34) her confidence was high and she chose to run in a younger mixed race rather than her own age group event.
Clare Elms and Terry Booth (Cliff Hide)
In the race she was able to follow M55 Terry Booth in the knowledge he’d run 4:58.29 earlier this year which helped in gusts of well over 25km per hour.
Running economically, every lap was around 79 seconds and she finished with two seconds in hand.
While managing a heel injury, she has achieved 11 British records this year and while her focus has been on the track in the summer she is hopeful over the winter after a short break to attempt records all the way up to the half-marathon.
Elms did better the world mile mark in Wimbledon in July but has yet to have it ratified as there was a problem with the photo finish and, while she had no hiccups in Tooting, it looks as if it might deny Andrew Ridley and Rob McHarg.
Andrew Ridley leads Rob McHarg (Cliff Hide)
The pair who train together, dropped down to the youngest age group rather than run with fellow M60s.
Ridley, who won World Masters double gold at 800m and 1500m, ended up setting the pace anyway in the M35 race and powered through 400m in 62 seconds despite the blustery conditions especially on the bends.
McHarg, who finished third in both races in Sweden but was improving race by race and had set a British record of 2:09.45 mid-week, hung on and both sprinted hard up the straight leaving younger runners in their wake.
Ridley ran 2:07.45 and McHarg 2:08.01 compared to the world M60 record of 2:08.56 by the American Nolan Shaheed in 2011.
However, while the time could be confirmed (the respective hand times were 2:07.4 and 2:07.8), the photo finish images were insufficient for world record purposes and McHarg cannot even count it as a Scottish record.
In Sweden the pair had interestingly been split by Robert Kibet, a 1:43.66 800m performer in his prime even though Kibet’s 1965 date of birth on all statistical sites suggested he should have competed in the younger M55 category!
READ MORE: World Masters results from Gothenburg
Newly-crowned world champion Moira West won her 100m and 200m specialities in a fast 15.98/34.09 but also won the long jump in a British W75Â record of 3.10m.
The wind – mostly a cross-wind – while legal for West was swirling and in successive rounds a -3.6m/sec and +3.6m/sec was recorded.
M40
SP/DT: L Zambrzcki 11.98/35.35
M45:
1500: 1 C West 4:33.01
M50:
100 (0.4)/200 (-0.8): D Olusanya 12.89/26.35
800: R Datnow 2:08.34
100H (1.7): 1 G Smith 14.56
HJ: V Ramsay 1.52
LJ:Â C Beecham 5.56/1.1
3000W: S Zennaro 16:43.50
M55:
100 (1.2)/200 (-0.8): B Zelechowski 12.37/25.70
M60:
100 (1.3): 1 B Steene 12.86; 2 P Logan 12.87
400/800: 1 S Corfield 61.99/2:21.73
800: ns: 1 A Ridley 2:07.45: 2 R McHarg 2:08.01
1500: 1 D Williams 4:49.13
SP: 1 K Baker 10.42
DT/HT: C Privett 41.19/37.56
M65:
100 (0.2): 1 J Browne 13.44
400: 1 A Day 67.25
JT: 1 S Langdon 39.58
M70:
JT: 1 M Bennett 33.36
M75:
SP/DT/JT: T Richards 10.12/31.65/28.25
M85:
400/800/1500: 1 D Milsom 1:56.42/4:13.37/8:43.34
W45:
800: 1 L Durn 2:36.72
3000W: C Ha Kwok 17:29.76
W50:
800/1500: 1 S Lamb 2:37.01/5:19.25
80H (-0.7)/HJ: D Norman 13.24/1.40
DT/HT: S Gonzalez 25.88/33.19
W60:
1500: C Elms 4:57.14 (World W60 rec)
HJ/LJ: 1 G Clarke 1.15/3.33
W65:
200 (-1.6): 1 A Owen 33.86
W75:
100 (-1.1)/200 (-1.6)/LJ: M West 15.98/34.09/3.10/-0.6 (UK rec)
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