Strong British team at European Masters Champs in Poland

GB and Northern Ireland field a number of world and national record-holders in Toruń in the major masters event of the winter

Some 330 British athletes are in action this coming week (March 17-23) at the European Masters Indoor Championships in Toruń in Poland and it also contains a marathon, cross-country and the outdoor throws.

Britain are bound to be among the top few nations and likely be vying with hosts Poland (1010 entries) and Germany (418) at the top of the medal table.

The UK’s most famous athlete entered is new to the masters championships scene but not to championship racing – Dwain Chambers.

The 2010 world indoor and 2009 European indoor 60m champion is now in the M45 category in which he set a world age group record of 6.81 in January. He ran 6.89 a couple of times when he competed in the UK Championships last month.

Curiously, though one athlete, Stefan Wnorowski, has given a quicker seeding time of 6.80 while former record setter, Sweden’s Lion Martinez (6.92), will again be challenging for medals.

Paul Forbes, who holds the M65 800m (2:15.30) world record, has a huge time advantage in the 800m and 1500m and also goes in the 3000m.

Fellow Scot John Thomson, who was second to Forbes in last year’s European outdoors 1500m, might well be his nearest challenge though it is notable that Forbes has yet to complete a track race this summer and has only completed parkruns and has yet to declare for Poland.

Clare Elms

Though she won multiple golds in the World Masters Championships, Clare Elms makes her first appearance in the European event since winning a W45 quadruple in Italy in 2009 and she goes for the same four events – 800m, 1500m, 3000m and cross-country – as she did in Ancona. She has already set world W60 indoor marks at 1500m and mile this winter.

Steve Peters, the famous sports psychologist and author of The Chimp Paradox, is a more continual competitor in masters events and he also competed back in 2009 – winning the M55 200m and 400m – and he has a big time advantage in the M70s this year in those events and also competes in the 60m where he was second 15 years ago.

Steve Peters

Rob McHarg has bettered the European M60 800m mark this winter with a 2:11.60 clocking and has come close on a couple of other occasions too to Anselm LeBourne’s 2:11.20 world record and is also favourite for the 1500m where European outdoor and world indoor champion Dave Clarke might be his closest…