British masters runner clocks 5:26.13 in the Dave Clarke Mile Night in Wimbledon on July 17
In an exciting finish Ben Reynolds, just 21 years old, improved his mile PB from 4:06.32 at the Bannister Mile to 3:58.65 as he produced a fast last lap to edge Jack Higgins.
Higgins, who ran 1:46.58 for 800m last month in Vienna, reduced his mile PB by six seconds to 3:58.81.
The fastest women’s time was by India Weir with 4:39.93 and she and Reynolds received awards from Clarke, who, apart from being a World Championships representative at 5000m and one of Britain’s greatest ever cross-country runners, was also a 3:56.95 miler.
While most eyes were on the 14th and final mile of the Dave Clarke Mile night, they arguably were overshadowed in race three by Clare Elms, whose 5:26.13 run on Instagram and shared by AW racked up over 43,000 views in the next five days.
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Britain’s most prolific age group mile setter already held the British age group outdoor records as a W45, W50, W55 and W60 on track and road as well as the W55 and W60 indoor marks. The latter had also been a world record of 5:30.89 in February but that had since been beaten by Sue McDonald’s 5:30.73 the following month.
In May at the Bannister event she had set an European mark of 5:30.88 but had fallen short of World Masters athlete of the year McDonald’s 5:28.02.
After a good month’s training having recovered from a bad hip injury and Covid, she decided to try and better the American’s mark and in the race she tried to run a series of laps around 81 seconds as she chased the steady pacing of Claire Grima, who had been the first W40 in the 2019 London Marathon.
She passed Grima in the closing stages and kicked strongly to take almost two seconds off of the previous world mark and almost five seconds off her European best.
There was also electrical timing at 1500m and there Elms set a European and British mark of 5:05.04.
There might have been another over-60 world record had this meet been a week later as former European Masters 800m champion Andrew Ridley ran 4:43.56 a week before his 60th birthday when the world mark is 4:47.69 and that looks a formality should he stay fit and healthy.
McDonald, was one of the first to congratulate Elms on breaking her record but the American did quickly respond with a record of her own at a much shorter event.
Susan McDonald W60 record-breaker
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