INTER AREA 2025 at York 17.08.2025
Report by Caroline Marler
Hon. President NMAC
Results
Combined
Team:
Northern Masters AC
713
Midland Masters AC
688
Eastern Masters AC
487
Veterans AC
471
North East Masters AA
467
Welsh Masters Athletics Ltd
445
Southern Counties Veterans AC
409
Scottish Veteran Harriers Club
308
South West Veterans AC
105
The other team results can be found on Opentrack Results
This was the first time since 1998 that NMAC had won the English Masters Inter Area Challenge!
We narrowly won the Men’s Competition a couple of years ago.
We fought to get the competition in the North instead of the usual Midlands and once decided, Paul Barlow our team manager knew we had to make the most of the home advantage. He put his keen brain to work to see how this could be done. The main thing was to get all events filled which is quite a feat. He did this with only one no show through illness on the day. 55 athletes were in the team!
The other challenge was how to use all the great athletes who wanted to compete. Putting athletes into lower age groups or into different events than their usual, could generate more points, if done cleverly. Luckily we have Paul who is very clever!
It was wonderful to see and meet the new 35 year old members! So much talent and so friendly.
“Every point counts” is our mantra and that’s how our athletes responded.
We had an abundance of fast sprinters, World and European champions and record holders. Steve Peters won M70 100m ( European record!), Darren Scott, M50 won 200m(sb), Mike Coogan won M50 100m, John Wright won M60 200m (sb) and 400m. Andrew Halliday won M50 400m and Sharon Wilkinson won the W50 400m ( and came 4th in the 800m later).
Other runners who scored valuable points in the sprints were Richard Higson Blythe- dropping down an age group !! to get 2 3rds in the M35 100m and 200m (sb). was a clever move as it gave the two other top M50s sprinters the chance to get maximum points, which they did .
Chidinma Agwu, 2nd in W35 100m (sb)., Liz Duke W35 3rd in 200m and Colin Edwards, 4th in M100m , Richard Mather 5th in M35 400m also got very good points .
5 out of 6 sprint relays were won ( all beating previous NMAC records!!).Anthony Burniston and Andy Hunter ,both top class sprinters came just for the relays. Showing great loyalty. How great was that!
We also had a great new W35 talent in Jo Rowland who amassed a huge 42 points in a multitude of disciplines, more than any other NMAC member. She obtained 4 1sts( Hurdles, Shot Put, Long Jump and Javelin )plus 2nd in Discus(pb) and 3rd in 400m.
What an athlete and lovely new member.
There were 3 1sts(27 points!) won by James Taylor our top class M35 thrower (in Discus, Shot and Hammer) and by Anita Saunders(W50 100m,200m and Long Jump).Fantastic performances by both.
All the sprinters mentioned above had relay victories as did Stephen Thorpe, Robert Hodges, Jayne Barlow , Beverley Horsfield, Liz Duke and Debra Dasse.
Apart from James Taylor’s, we had many firsts in the Field events- Clare Blunt W35 Pole Vault, Debra Dasse W35 High Jump (and 2nd in Triple Jump).John Twiddle M50 Discus (and 3rd in the Hammer ),Caroline Marler W70 shot( and 2nd in Long Jump and 5ths in 100m and 200m gaining 27 points)) and Greg Pell M50 Shot Put (and 4th in Javelin with a p.b.).Julie Wilson W60 won both Shot(sb) and Discus.
John Twiddle won the M50 Discus (and 3rd in the Hammer)
Ashley Pritchard contributed a massive 26 points by winning the M35 110m hurdles, High Jump and 2nd in the Pole Vault plus relay victory .Really good contribution.
2nd places earning 8 valuable points were achieved by Jeff Prest M35 3000m in a season’s best, Matty Hughes M351500m with a p.b and a fantastic last lap, Christian Holcombe M35 Triple Jump (and 3rd in Long Jump), Simon Ellis M50 800m and Robert Hodges M35 who came 2nd in the 800m. His valiant attempt in the Walk met with DQ but he ran in the sprint relay and got a 1st there. Great team ethic.
Doubling up in middle distance events is hard work and the following athletes put on a lot of effort, for which we are grateful :
Alina Stepanchuk W35 1500m/800m, Juliet Smith W50 sbs in both 1500m and 3000m and agreed to do a relay!. Great team ethic again. Joy Hickman 1500m/3000m, Chris Ireland M60 1500m(sb)/3000m. These athletes packed in the 4th to 6th positions, so important to get these points.
There was a strange double from Mike Quinn,M70 1500m plus filling on an empty spot in the Long Jump where he got 6 points for 4th! Wonderful.
Other middle distance athletes who brought us valuable points(“Every point counts” is our mantra!) were Dot Kesterton W70 4th in 800m not far off NMAC record, Ian Martin M50 who came 5th in 1500m with a pb., Carol Beattie W70 6th 1500m ,Geoffrey Pearson M70 5th 800m (sb) and Jed Turner M60 6th 800m . Jed did a s.b. and broke the NMAC M65 record. Congratulations Jed.
There were many athletes who did at least 3 events, apart from Ashley Pritchard who did so well. They gained many points.
Phil Robinson M50 was one such athletes, springing through 100m hurdles, High Jump and Pole Vault. getting 20 points.
Steve Linsell did 3 events that didn’t include his best, High Jump and gained us 19 points.
Jennifer Ibbitson W60 deserves a big mention as for the 2nd year she has dropped age groups and officiated whilst achieving 18 points in Hammer. Pole Vault and Javelin. Ilse Hemming covered W60 100m,200m and Long Jump(3rd) and relay getting 13 valuable points.
Another athlete who did 3 events was Kate Scott who took on the hurdles first time since school, came 3rd and set a NMAC record She later did the 400m(3rd in s.b.) and the 800m, amassing 20 points.
Jayne Barlow W60 ran well in the hurdles, setting a pb in 4th and also coming 2nd in the High Jump. Beverley Horsfield W50 got 3rd in Triple Jump and 8th in Shot Put plus a relay 1st.
Stephen Thorpe got 3rd in M50 Triple Jump and 1st in the relay.
Father and son Peter (M70 ) and Wayne (M35) Todd achieved 3rd and 4th respectively in Shot(sb) and Javelin.
Kerrie Buckley W35 was 3rd with a s.b. in the Hammer.
It’s always hard but vital to attempt to fill the Walks events otherwise a lot of points are lost. It is a very tricky and demanding event but Paul got them all filled though one person had to drop out through illness. The others battled round valiantly. 2 were disqualified which was a shame but David Murrie M60 on his first walk ever came third, after doing another event for the first time, the high hurdles! Amazing efforts.
Helen Eleker W60 also survived the DQs and came 3rd.Afroditi Kalambouka, a W50 heptathlete, for the 2nd year running took on the walk, finished 4th and later in the day did the 3000m. Very inspiring.
Someone else who deserves a special mention is Wendy Valentine, always willing to do whatever is needed. For this meeting it was Discus W60 6th and a lot of officiating.
For the meeting to go ahead in NMAC’s’ backyard’ we had to provide officials, Wendy was one of them.
I am so in awe of our athletes as I write this report. To win for the 1st time sice 1998 is awesome. We won the Men’s and came 2nd in the Ladies. So much credit goes to Paul
Barlow for his dedication and enthusiasm.
Most of all- well done to all our athletes – and supporters!
