Masters runners battle for BMAF 5km titles at Battersea Park

Popular event on November 30 saw a British W65 record of 19:53 by Monica Williamson.

In cool and sunny conditions, British masters competed for national titles and there were plenty of top-class performances over the age groups, though only W65 Monica Williamson could set a British best, Steve Smythe reports.

The 500 entry limits had been reached long before the closing date and the two main races saw impressive wins for M40 James Copeland and W35 Rebecca Piggott on a very narrow course in places not helped by the good weather attracting more runners, pedestrians, dogs and bikes than normal.

There was also a clash with the previous day’s South of England Masters cross-country championships, at Greenford.

Copeland kicked clear in the final kilometre for his biggest victory to date and was close to his 15:01 PB, with 15:04.

Pretty much just a parkrunner until a few years ago, he has been in PB form in 2025 setting bests at 10km (30:41), half-marathon (68:51) and marathon (2:24:08 in his debut).

Four seconds back Thomas Almond, just four days after his 35th birthday, made his masters debut with an M35 gold.

Further back there  was a stand-out run from Adrian Mussett who retained his M50 title in 15:38 ahead of the younger M45 champion Nicholas Browne’s 15:50.

World masters indoors 800m and 1500m champion Mark Symes also defended his title from last year as he led home the M55s by 24 seconds in 16:28.

The M60s produced one of the best quality competitions of the day as Andrew Leach’s 16:42 defended his title from European Masters 5000m and 10,000m champion Chris Upson. World Masters indoor 1500m silver medallist David Williams set a lifetime best in third.

Such was the quality that multi M60 world record-holder Andrew Ridley could only finish fourth and Commonwealth Games marathon fourth-placed David Taylor seventh.

The M65s and older men ran with the women, where Piggott, who won the South of England Southern Inter-counties senior championship over 5000m in September came out on top.

Like Copeland this was her first major masters race and her 17:24 gave her a 20 second margin over fellow W35 Sarah Winstone.

Third across the line was W50 Carole Coulon whose 17:49 was only five seconds short of her PB and she finished ahead of the W40 and W45 champions Nicola Sutton and Zoe Oldfield.

W55 Kate Ramsey (18:33) and W60 Clare Elms (18:39) followed up their recent England and Ireland Masters International cross -country wins.

Ramsey won gold by 42 seconds with Elms, winning by 103 seconds with the latter as in Leeds easily winning the overall age-graded award over both races.

Monica Williamson (19:53) was the other winner from Leeds as she won the W65s by 93 seconds and for good measure took twelve seconds off of Lynne Higgins’ UK age-group all-time best.

European masters W70 800m and 1500m champion Anna Garnier (22:50) and W75 Anne Dockery (24:23) dominated their age groups as did W80 Janice Newman (28:20) who went second all-time in her age group to Penny Elliott’s 27:51.

In the older men’s age groups Paul Reddaway (18:27) added the UK M65 5km title to his already won track 5000m as Jonathan Haynes, who won the bronze medal in the masters international cross-country, easily won the M70 title in 19:24.

Frank Brennan (22:57) headed the M75s while as expected  multi world champion and musician Peter Giles (24:13) dominated the M80s.

Former West Ham youth footballer Dave Moorekite, who has previously won the M75 and M80 titles, added the M85 gold in a time of 26:31 which moved him to second all-time in the UK in his age-group behind Steve Charlton.

Men (M35-64): 1 J Copeland (SCVAC, M40) 15:04; 2 T Almond (Rei P) 15:08; 3 M Revier (Soton) 15:13; 4 J Hurrell (Lon H, M40) 15:31; 5 M Stone (Newb, M40) 15:32; 6 M Bolland-Cage (York) 15:35

M45: 1 N Browne (Serp) 15:52; 2 S Fabes (VP&TH) 16:08; 3 J Philip (S’oaks) 16:18
M50: 1 A Mussett (Colch) 15:38; 2 W Green (Serp) 15:50; 3 C Blackburn (Holl) 15:56; 4 J Prest (Traff) 16:15; 5 O Gosden (G&G) 16:18; 6 T South (Sun) 16:23
M55: 1 M Symes (AFD) 16:28; 2 M Weaver (High) 16:52; 3 J Allan (Alnw) 16:58; 4 T Booth (G&G) 17:02; 5 J Gonzalez-Armas (26.2) 17:25
M60: 1 A Leach (NHRR) 16:42; 2 C Upson (Cambus) 17:01; 3 D Williams (G&G) 17:13; 4 A Ridley (B’ton P) 17:32; 5 P Parry (B&W) 17:39; 6 J Burrell (Lewes) 17:52; 7 D Taylor (Herne H) 17:53; 8 B Reynolds (THH) 17:58

M35-44 TEAM: 1 Soton 47:22; 2 Reigate P 49:04; 3 Wimb W 50:43

M45-54 TEAM: 1 Serpentine 49:11; 2 Holland S 49:57; 3 G&G 50:28

M55-64 TEAM: 1 AFD 53:11; 2 G&G 53:14; 3 Highgate 53:15

M65+ (ran with the women): 1 P Reddaway (Ware) 18:27; 2 D Ogden (S Lon) 18:30; 3 K McDonald (Hill) 18:47; 4 J Haynes (Bish S, M70) 19:24; 5 P Hough (Shrop, M70) 20:01; 6 A Nesbit (Read RR) 20:04
M70: 3 G Ruffle (Hart) 20:12; 4 M Forder (Wimb W) 20:27; 5 D Bedwell (B&W) 20:41; 6 D Pitt (Serp) 20:52
M75: 1 F Brennan (Tri) 22:57; 2 D Michael (Barn) 23:46; 3 D Jones (Strat) 24:39
M80: 1 P Giles (Herc W) 24:13; 2 T Rea (Heath) 25:46; 3 E Thorpe (Read RR) 31:52
M85: 1 D Moorekite (Lark) 26:31; 2 D Milsom (Hill) 31:13

M65 TEAM: 1 Warrington 64:28; 2 Hors J 67:23; 3 Tonbridge 71:20

Women (W35+): 1 R Piggott (Lon H) 17:24; 2 S Winstone (Soton) 17:44; 3 C Coulon (B&B, W50) 17:49, 4 N Sutton (Prest, W40) 17:53; 5 N Evans (Ton  W40) 17:56; 5 Z Oldfield (Lough, W45) 18:16
W35: 3 S Giles (Alch) 18:23

W40: 3 M Kowal (Swan) 18:32; 4 G Bailey (Haver) 18:34

W45: 2 N Densley (Camb) 18:31; 3 A King (Hart) 19:00; 4 Z Doyle (Wyc P) 19:02
W50: 2 N Sturzaker (Herne H) 18:30; 3 E Skinner (Kent) 18:33; 4 H Pool (Read RR) 19:29
W55: 1 K Ramsey (Charn) 18:33; 2 A Critchlow (W4) 19:15; 3 D Jeffery (Folk) 19:28; 4 N Gardiner (High) 20:42
W60: 1 C Elms (Kent) 18:39; 2 S Russell (High) 20:22; 3 L Woolhouse (Vets) 21:00; 4 L Chislett (Arena 80) 21:09; 5 J Smith (Ely) 21:16

W65: 1 M Williamson 19:53 (UK best); 2 P Whitter (Strag) 21:26, 3 S Davies (B&W) 21:28; 4 L Tyler (Farn) 21:36; 5 M Minchella (S Shield) 21:43; 6 B Wenham (Cant) 21:46
W70: 1 A Garnier (Herc W) 22:50; 2 S Ellen (Norf G) 25:04; 3 G Bullen (Thurr) 26:34; 4 J Georgiou (Farn) 26:55
W75: 1 A Dockery (West) 24:23; 2 N Stanford (Serp) 27:15; 3 H Allen (Hart) 30:51
W80: 1 J Newman (Metro) 28:20; 2 P Rich (RA Worth) 33:56

W35-44 TEAM: 1 AFD 57:16; 2 Soton 57:28; 3 Holland S 59:37