Turning 65 used to be a major milestone – the state pension and a bus pass.  A future of a pipe and slippers and re-runs of Dad’s Army on the television.  Not any more – now it is just an opportunity to try to put in some decent performances whilst still “young” in a new age category.

Jed Turner and I travelled over to Trafford on August 10th for our first championship event in the new M65 age group – the Northern Masters Track & Field champs.  Conditions were pretty perfect – blue skies and little wind – and there was a healthy number of entries in all the age categories, up to and including the M85’s.

Jed sporting his Northern Masters vest

First up was the 800 metres.  Jed led from the start, cruising through the first lap in a nippy 71 seconds and pushing on to win the race in an excellent 2.25 – a welcome return to form after a couple of below par performances.  I was happy to claim silver in a season’s best of 2.34.

Two hours later we were back on the start line for the 1500 metres.  This time it was my turn to go to the front and I built up a 10-second lead by the bell.  I knew Jed would put in a fast last lap, and he had closed to 5 seconds by the end but I held on to win in 5.14 to his 5.19.

I had somehow allowed Jed to talk me into doing the 400 metres, the final event of the day, held just 45 minutes after the 1500 metres.  “It will be fun” he said (it wasn’t).  “You’ll enjoy it” he reckoned (I didn’t).  Probably the biggest thrill was lining up alongside the great John Wright, the M65 World Masters Athletic champion from 2024.  John blasted round the track in 57 seconds, a performance he described as “Ok, for now” after the race.  Jed ran strongly to take the silver medal in 65 seconds.  I trailed in last, somehow managing to run slower than the first lap of my 800 metres.  Oh well.

Competitors lining up for the M70 800 metre race (photo: Carol Holt).

A lovely day out.  As a bonus, Jed’s 800 metre performance turned out to be a new Northern Masters M65 record, as was my 3000m in 11.16 at the Run Jump Throw event in July, so we were happy runners as we drove back across the Pennines.

We will go again this weekend at the Inter-Area match in York, representing Northern Masters against the other regional Masters clubs.

Striders Results