M65 runner Dave Clarke doubles up as Britain go clear second in medal table on a day highlighted by a Kenyan world record
In the World Masters Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Florida, Britain won two gold medals in the men’s 3000m races on Tuesday (March 25) and also won a shot title as they kept their position easily in second on the medal table with 12 golds, 9 silvers and 13 bronzes albeit way behind the American hosts who have now won 53 golds and 172 medals.
Canada, who have the second biggest team (albeit a fraction of the Americans), are third in the table (12, 9, 13).
Michael Hausler won M65 shot gold with a 13.56m throw ahead of Latvia’s Saulius Svilainis (13.25m) as Britain’s John Moreland was eighth with 11.70m.
David Proctor used his 1:48.32 800m speed to win a thrilling M35 3000m race in 8:36.14.
Six runners were still in contention as the leaders passed 2000m in 5:53.29 but it was down to four as they hit 400m to go. The Sale Harrier fought all the way to the finish with Spain’s Ignacio Garcia Ramon, who had a few days earlier won cross-country gold, but a 61.59 last 400m and 2:41.59 final kilometre got him home with 22 hundredths of a second to spare.
Dave Clarke became the first Brit in Gainesville to win two individual golds as he followed up his M65 800m title the day before with a hard fought 3000m victory in a championships record 10:08.04.
American Daniel King set a fast pace of 3:21.61 at 1000m and 6:45.43 at 2000m with Clarke a foot behind and that was still the case as they swung into the finish straight.
Clarke kicked hard with 50m to go and a 37.25 last 200m edged him ahead by less than a second.
Cross country winner Jukka Kauppila was third with British 800m medallist John Thompson fourth in 10:36.65.
The top performance of the day actually came from Kenya who have a small team competing here.
Winning their second gold medal of the Games was Francis Bowen Kipkoech, who had a 27:45.20 10,000m and 2:08:01 marathon best. He set a M50 world record of 8:36.23 as he won gold by over half a minute.
Kenyan M50 Francis Bowen Kipkoech on his way to a world 3000m record of 8:36.23 lapping Canadian Craig Maclean
After a kilometre in 2:53.74 he was slightly down on schedule but thereafter he ran consistent 34 second laps to pass 2km in 5:46.73.
An acceleration to 31.95 saw him run a 2:49.50 final kilometre to better the previous record of 8:37.73 by Spain’s Juan Anthony Barranco.
Cross Country bronze medalist…
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