Event report by Dot Kesterton
Five Steel City Striders enjoyed a trip to York University athletics stadium last Sunday to join our area club, Northern Masters AC, who were hosting the 2025 Inter Area Outdoor T&F Championship. We were competing against the other regional Masters clubs, including Welsh Masters, Scottish Veterans, Southern Counties Veterans, and our closest rivals, Midland Masters. Carol Beattie, Kate Scott, Chris Ireland, Jed Turner and I took on a variety of events to help raise the points tally.
Teams enter one athlete per event, with the winner scoring 9 points and ninth position receiving one point. Every position is vital and it often comes down to the final relays to decide the overall winners.
Kate Scott, W60.
400m: 3rd, 1:14.91. 800m: 4th, 2:53.87. 80m hurdles: 3rd,18:18. 4x100m relay, 6th, 1:15.27.
Kate is building up to doing a heptathlon and she took the opportunity to take on a range of events. This was her first 80m hurdles competition since she was eleven and she took third place in an incredibly tight race, with just 2/10ths of a second separating second to fourth. Her time was a new Northern Masters record and she now places 3rd on the W60 on UK Rankings for 2025.
Chris Ireland, M60.
1500m: 5th, 5:12.77. 3000m 4th, 11:46.22.
Jed Turner, M60.
800m, 6th, 2:23.85.
Season’s bests for Chris in the 1500m and Jed in the 800m.
Jed’s time puts him second on the M65 800m ranking list for 2025 and beats the new Northern Masters M65 record he set just last week in Manchester.
Carol Beattie, W70.
1500m: 6th, 7:40.24.
Carol was another athlete taking on a new event, or maybe one she hasn’t attempted tried since her school days. Her time will put her in the top ten F70 performances for this year.
Dot Kesterton, W70.
800m: 4th 3:28.99; W60 4x100m relay, 6th, 1:15.27.
After a very competitive F70 800m event, Dot dropped down an age category to join the F60 relay team and claim vital points for the team
NMAC came 1st Male team and 2nd female team, winning the overall Championship for the first time since 1998, with 713 points, 28 points ahead of Midland Masters AC and 126 points ahead of Eastern Masters AC. Striders athletes contributed 53 points towards the total.
The Northern Masters squad
Full results can be found: here