Medals galore at Lee Valley for the in-form local golden oldies

Peterborough & Nene Valley AC’s ‘golden oldies’ collected a haul of 14 national medals during the British Masters Indoor Championship at Lee Valley over the weekend.

Andrea Jenkins won over 45s weighted throw gold with a distance of 12.69m and hammer gold with a throw of 43.54m.

Simon Achurch won an impressive five medals in the throwing events. Over 45s shot put bronze, along with hammer and discus silver supplemented his golden performances in the javelin and the weighted throw. Achurch hurled the javelin 41.31m, and had a best distance of 11.37m in the weighted throw.

Simon Fell was also on the over 45s podium when winning 1,500m silver with a 4:24.37 clocking.

Over 50 Sally Pusey won a pair of silvers with a 24.92m hammer throw and a distance of 6.96m in the weighted throw.

Sean Reidy win the over 40s 60m hurdles gold in a time of 9.13. Reidy finished second, but was awarded gold as the winner was an Irishman and ineligible for a championship medal. The irony wasn’t lost on Reidy who is technically Irish himself.

Reidy was just run out of the medals in the 400m when finishing half a second behind team-mate Dave Brown who won bronze in 52.41.

Claire Smith ran 27.57 for over 45s 200m silver while Kevin Bates earned the over 65s shot put bronze with a 9.91m throw.

Most of the squad are trained by super-coach Tim Needham, who was determined not to be outdone by his talented team. Needham performed well, winning over 65 bronze medals in the hammer, discus and weighted throw.

Russell Dowers clocked 2:19.90 for fifth place in the over 35s 800m

CAMBRIDGE HALF MARATHON

Bushfield Joggers Martin Gichuhi and Jake Norman headed the Peterborough contingent.

Both athletes recorded new personal bests while finishing just five seconds apart. Gichuhi placed 71st with a time of 1:14.05, with Norman coming home in 75th.

Dan Lewis and Mark Popple of Peterborough and Nene Valley AC made it four locals in the top 100. Lewis placed 78th in 1:14.17 with Popple clocking 1:14.47 for 87th spot.

PANVAC’S James Sadlier ran 1:18.55 for 200th spot ahead of Orton based postman Miguel Cann who placed 239th in 1:19.45. Jonathan Hynes of PACTRAC finished 344th with a time of 1:21.58, with Werrington’s Dan MacDonald 414th in 1:23.20.

Hermione Wright of PANVAC was 51st lady in 1:27.04.

RETFORD HALF MARATHON

Part-time shepherd and fulltime Helpston Harrier Ruth Jones was among the 700 athletes who flocked to Nottinghamshire on Sunday.

Jones has been clocking some decent times over shorter distances recently, but feels she has never fully done herself justice over the half marathon distance.

The 41-year-old went someway to putting things right on Sunday, running 1:26.07 to finish as ninth lady while knocking over a minute off her previous fastest for the distance which she set back in 2013.

Simon Achurch in action.