Notts A.C. were well represented at the World Masters Athletics championships held at Lahti in Finland with six athletes returning with a total of seven medals between them. All the athletes were runners and their events ranged in distances from 100m up to 8km cross-country.

Only one athlete managed to claim a world title outright this time and that was Jane Pidgeon who front ran the women 45 2,000m steeplechase to win in a time of 7.43.32, she also placed 7 th in the W45 1,500m in 5.03.37 and ran 32.12 for 8km cross-country to lead the British team to third team medals. Tim Hartley came very close in both his races placing second and taking silver medals in the M40 8km cross-country in 24.24, and M40 5,000m in 14.50.49 .The result of the 5,000 was decided on times with the winner coming from the other heat; this did not give him the chance of a true head-to-head. Dalton Powell continued his medal winning form by taking second and the silver medal in the M45 200m in 23.23 and third and the bronze medal in the M45 100m in 11.50.

Further steeplechase success came in the form of a very strong run from Colin Palmer when he ran a seasons best time of 9.39.15 for the M40 3,000m steeplechase and was only just beaten in to second place. Colin also placed 9 th in the M40 8km cross-country where he recorded a time of 25.56.

Just to show that Colin is not the only Palmer that can run Fiona Palmer took part in the W40 100m where she recorded a time of 13.81 and only narrowly failed to make it through to the final. Over 400m Fiona had more success making it through to the final in a seasons best of 62.53, in the final she placed 8 th with a time that was only just shy of the same time. Michelle Hooton ran in the W35 5,000m and placed 9 th in a very good time of 19.37.84. This track race was after having placed 9 th in the W35 8km cross-country in a time of 32.29.

Report on British Masters events June and July 2009

1) Track and Field Championships at the Alexander Stadium 3 rd and 4 th July 2009

Notts AC's masters were again to the fore in the British Masters Championships at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham over the weekend of 4th and 5th July. The club claimed 2 championship best performances,9 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals.

Bob Brown (M75) added 30cm to the previous championship best performance with a vault of 2.60m to claim gold. Jane Pidgeon (W45) claimed the other chamionship best performance and gold medal in the 2000m steeplechase taking 6 seconds off the previous record with a time of 7.53.18 minutes. She also front ran the 800m winning in a time of 2.33.17.

Multi eventist Laurie Dunn (M60) won gold medals in both the long jump (4.43m) and the high jump (1.35m). He was also 4th in the 100m (14.21) and 6th in the 200m (29.83).

Other medalists over middle distance were David Oxland (M55) who pulled away in the last 3 laps to win gold in the 5000m in 17.24.90 and bronze in the 1500m in 4.38.01, Michelle Hooton (W35) silver in the 5000m in 19.35.80, Colin Palmer (M40) who front ran the 3000m steeplechase to win in 10.04.87,

In the shorter distances Fiona Palmer (W40)  gained 2 silver medals in both the 400m (63.11) and the 200m (28.5), Dalton Powell (M45) won silver in the 100m (11.77) and stormed away from the field to win the 200m (23.71), whilst Gia Skervin (W35) won her 100m (13.15) and was second in the 200m (27.28). Other sprinters included Raph Smith(M40) who was 3rd in the B final 100m (12.51) and 2nd in the B final 200m (25.09), Shaun Davey (M45) who was 2nd in the B final 100m (12.69), Clem Bartley (M50 ) 5th in the 100m final (12.27) and Phil Clayton (M50) 13.07 in his 100m heat.

In the field Nigel Winchcombe (M45) won a bronze in the hammer (46.68m) and Clem Bartley was 4th in the javelin (45.41m).

Results table

2) British Masters 5K Road Race championships at Horwich 21 st June

David Oxland (M55) and Fred (M55) and Jane Pigeon made the trip up to Horwich, near Bolton, to run in the pleasant 5K national championship race which consists of three times round the town centre on an undulating course. David took the M55 gold medal for the third consecutive year and achieved a personal best for 5K on the road of 17 minutes 4 seconds. It may seem surprising that David is still achieving lifetime bests at the age of 58 but he only joined Notts AC when he was 52, having previously been a "fun runner".

Jane Pigeon, who normally achieves her best performances at the Steeplechase, is nevertheless a very effective "flat" road and track runner and she sneaked a W45 Bronze medal by just 4 seconds, finishing in 19 minutes 23 seconds, Her husband Fred meanwhile beat her this year, reversing the order in which they finished last year, finishing 9 th in his age class in 18 minutes 47 seconds.

What made the Pigeons' day particularly special was their warm down from the race. Whilst David Oxland was recovering from the race and watching the rain-affected Horwich Carnival, the Pigeons were on their way up Rivington Pike. Jane commented " Fred and I have tried to make it to the top on the Pike whilst warming down from a previous run in the 5K championships This time, despite the wind, we made it!"

(Track and Field Report by Fred Pigeon. Table of results compiled by Geraldine Ellis.

Horwich report by David Oxland)

David Oxland stars on BBC East Midlands News Watch

NOTTS AC MASTERS ATHLETES WIN BUMPER CROP OF NATIONAL MEDALS

Masters athletes from Notts Athletics Club won seven Gold, two Silver and two Bronze medals at the British Masters Indoor Athletics Championships which were held at the Lee Valley Stadium near Enfield in North London.

Back to his best form, Dalton Powell (45-49 age group) won Gold in both the 60 metres and 200 metres sprints and his training companion, Mark Dunwell, matched this achievement by winning the same races in the 35-39 age group. Gia Skervn , who is still relatively new to Masters athletics, won Gold in the 60 metres (women's 35-39) and followed this up with Bronze in the 200 metres.

In the older age brackets there were further successes for the sprinters with Clem Bartley (50-54) winning a Bronze in the 60 metres whilst Laurie Dunn (60-64) obtained benefit from his pentathlon training by winning a Silver medal at the same distance.

Notts were not so well supported in the middle distance events but David Oxland (55-59), despite not being fully fit and only finishing 4 th in his favourite distance of 1500 metres, won Silver at 3000 metres behind Nigel Gates ,a well known former senior international athlete.

In the field events, the ever dependable Nigel Winchcombe (45-49) won Silver in the Hammer and was also 4 th in the Shot.

Bob Brown (75-79) continued to amaze the enthusiastic crowd of spectators by pole-vaulting 2.6 metres to easily win the Gold medal in an event in which most athletes of his age have long since ceased to compete.

David Oxland commented " Notts won medal in most age groups from 35 to 75 covering a variety of disciplines and we remain one of the most successful clubs in terms of our successes at Masters' national and international events".