3 Isle of Wight athletes – Dan Eckersley, Garry Newton and Emily Fry – have achieved podium places the British Masters in Derby.
Dan Eckersley – from Ryde Harriers – won the Age 35+ 3000m steeplechase in a time of 9:14.34. He will now go on to represent Great Britain at the European Masters Championships in Pescara, Italy, later this month.
Unfortunately, however, his time will not count as a barrier was not in place, leading to him only to jump 34 barriers rather than the obligatory 35.
Dan said:
“My best race for 4 years, but it won’t count as an official time as the track staff were too slow to put 1 barrier out on the first full lap
“Hugely frustrating, given all the work I’ve put in to get back to this level (UK no.1 for my age and close to top 20 overall); there were times in the last couple of years of repeated injuries whether I wondered if it was all worth it, and it was for days like today was meant to have been and in some ways still was. I knew coming in I was on good form and the weather was the kind you dream about and rarely get.
“Still, you can’t take the medal away, and the fact that it puts me in a great position to potentially win the European Masters in Pescara in 3 weeks from now. Use it as fuel, I guess they say.”
In other events at the Masters, Isle of Wight athlete Emily Fry was named W40 British Masters Long Jump Champion on Saturday with a jump of 5.05meters. Emily also took silver in the 100m, with a time of 13.24s.
The following day, a further Island athlete – Garry Newton – won silver in the M45 Shot Put, with a throw of 12.18m.
Great efforts from the IOW athletes, always enjoy reading about their exploits and best of luck with the European Masters.