An Accidental World Record

A bashful Anna Garnier surprised herself with a W70 World Masters Record of 6:33.46 in the Dave Clarke Mile Extravaganza on 23 July, sponsored by Lauriston Runners, in the first of fifteen races, which also saw Peter Giles set a new M80 British record, despite running with a hamstring twinge which almost forced him to withdraw.  The meeting also saw serial record-breaker Clare Elms smash her own W60 World Record by over 6 seconds to finish in 5:18.97.

'I always find it nerve-wracking performing at our home track, confesses Anna, 'and so my aim was merely to try and better the 6:38.98 I ran at the BMAF Mile Champs at Oxford back in May'.

Sharing a few jokes with Peter before the start clearly calmed the nerves, and the plan they hatched was for him to stay close to Anna in her quest for a PB, in order for him to nail the British record', says Anna. 'My intention was to run an even-paced race (not going out too hard) and keep something in reserve for the end. 

'Then the lovely Ben Noad appeared as the pacer for our race – what a luxury. I had never had a pacer before, and Ben was brilliant, constantly indicating to us that we were well under the pace needed for Peter to break the record. As he stepped off the track Ben waved me on to try to follow the man in front. I valiantly tried to catch him, but didn't quite make it, and the last 100-150m was painful, but I put everything into it, desperate for that PB'.

As Peter followed her in, in 6:38.93, neither he nor Anna initially realised they had set new record times. 'Someone said they thought I'd smashed the British record, but to be honest I didn't believe it', says Anna. It was only before the last race when HW friends suggested she check with the officials, that she discovered she had not only set a new British record, but a World record, too.  'Imagine my amazement. It was totally out of the blue!'

Fittingly her exploits were witnessed by the previous British record holder, Roz Tabor, who was officiating as a track judge, and in a final twist to the tale Anna realised that she had actually been sitting on a British record all along thanks to that time set in Oxford back in May – in her race on that occasion there had also been a W75 World record, and in the focus on ratifying that, it seems Anna's achievement somehow slid under the radar!

Photograph by Cassie (Wenjia) Chen

Here they go again!

As co-manager of the Club's Vets team with Mark White, Anna Garnier has even more to celebrate, since both the Women's and Men's teams repeated last year's clean sweep of wins across the four matches in the Southern Vets League. Both teams now head to Horspath, Oxford, on 21 September where the women will be aiming to defend the history-making title they clinched last year by half a point!

Above: the women's and men's relay teams celebrate winning the final fixture at Carshalton on 28 July

Fab Four

At the end of June Isabella Harrison (below left) was also one of four of the Club’s Juniors to win medals in the Southern 3000m Championships in Chelmsford. She won the U17 Women’s final by almost 14 seconds, the only athlete in the field to break 10 minutes, in 9:48.97, while Theo Creed dominated the field to take the U15 Boys title by over 12 seconds in 9:11.94. Anna Wait won the silver medal in the U15 Girls final, slicing a whole 19 seconds from her previous best to finish in 10:19.27, and Max Barckhahn (below right) delivered a PB of 9:04.30 to take the bronze medal in the U17 event in only his first season competing for the Club.