City of York Athletic Club

Masters (Veterans) Running

The club affiliates to the Yorkshire Veterans Athletic Association. They organise monthly runs, as well as various championships.

Yorkshire Veterans fixtures 2008

3rd February	Horsforth	Monthly Run and AGM
23rd March	Meltham	Monthly run
7th May	Esholt	5k Championship
1st June	Walton, Wakefield	Monthly Run
5th June	Haworth	5M Championship
11th June	Pudsey	Monthly Run
6th July	Honley, Holmfirth	Monthly Run
30th July	York	Monthly Run
10th August	Askern	10 mile championship
21st August	Starbeck, Harrogate	Monthly Run
10th September	Cleckheaton	10k Championship
21st September	Cleckheaton	Track & Field Championship

Yorkshire Veterans website
British Masters website

Race Reports

The veterans year got off to a start with the cross country championships at Keighley on 13 January. The course was a good one with some good running, but some tough hills. While the rain mostly held off during the races, the course was pretty wet and muddy in places and cut up quite badly, particularly by the end of the last race. The entry was huge with nearly 500 entered and it didn't lack quality either.

Our star performance came from Dawn Gibbs, who was 2nd overall in the ladies race and 1st over 50. Jo Ellerton also ran (20th over 35), but with Kathryn Dickinson (who was also in the running for an over 50's medal) ill, unfortunately we didn't have a womens team.

The 50 to 69 year old men started at the same time as the women, but ran a longer course. Defending champion Andy Normandale was not as his best and slipped from 2nd early on to finish 4th. Dave Muckersie 29th and Alan Lynn 56th completed the scoring team which finished 6th. Mike Hetherton bronze medalist in the over 60's last year was 58th on very limited training due to injury.

Paul Goble was well to the fore in the last race for men 35 to 49 and finished 22nd (8th over 35) in a very high standard race won by fell running legend Ian Holmes. The clubs team in the over 40's category were 7th, the scorers being Steve Simpson 42nd, Andy Nesom 51st, Mark Harney 74th and Paul Lewis 112th.

The clubs medal count would surely have been higher but for Jim Shemilt and Piran White also being unable to run due to ilness.

Reports from 2007
2007 got off to a good start at the Yorkshire cross championships at Rotherham. Andy Normandale took the over 50's title, while Mike Hetherton took bronze in the over 60's. The over 50's took bronze team medals, Normandale backed up by Jim Shemilt and Phil Paxman. In the younger age categories Piran White and Andy nesom ran with Piran 5th in the over 40's. In the womens event Kathryn Dickinson was 6th in the over 45's. In March the fell championships were held in conjunction with the Ian Roberts fell race at Marsden. Unfortunately the race was the same weekend as the National cross country championships, or we would have had a better turnout. Mike Hetherton led the way, winning bronze in the over 60's and was supported by Phil Paxman and Paul Richardson.

The Rothwell 10k road race in April was a club target race as well as the Yorkshire Championship, so we had a good turnout. Mike Hetherton was again the star performer winning the over 60's title. Andy Normandale took silver in the over 50's and Piran White bronze in the over 40's.

The 5k championship at Esholt was only 3 days after the 10k race, but obviously Andy Normandale had recovered well as he took the gold this time. He was backed up by Martin Kirby and Andy Nesom.

As the Summer got busier the attendance at the endurance championship races slipped. However, it was good to see that we got some athletes out for the Yorkshire track and field championships in September. In the long jump Keith Bennington was 3rd (1st over 55) and Colin Chafto 5th (1st over 70). Colin was also 2nd in the high jump (1st over 70) while Maria Williams was 2nd in the womens event (2st over 55). Keith Bennington again scored in the triple jump with 2nd (1st over 55) while Colin was 7th in the shot (1st over 70). Maria williams gained 2 more medals with 2nd in the 200m and 3rd in the javelin (1st over 55 in both).

On the same weekend the club was represented at the World Master Mountain running championships at Bludenz in Austria. It was a fantastic few days and hopefully there will be some photos on the website soon to give a flavour of it. The best performance came from Jim Shemilt who was 12th in the over 60's with Mike Hetherton 22nd in the same race. Andy Normandale was 20th in the over 50's race. Next years race is in the Czech Republic and we are hopeful of going again. A great experience if anyone else is interested.

We did not have a very good turnout in the monthly runs this year with the exception of the York race where we had 9. Overall we finished 16th out of 35 teams.

Last updated 21/01/2008