Welsh Master Athlete Peter Watkeys is a unique 1500m double record holder within days of each other..

Welsh Master Athlete Peter Watkeys is a unique 1500m double record holder within days of each other.

Report by Don Hale. https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

www.welshmastersathletics.co.uk

Welsh Master Peter Watkeys recorded a superb new WMAL record at a 1500m event on August 19th, and then bizarrely improved upon his time just four days later at another similar meeting - by over 7-seconds - to claim a unique double!

Peter, who was additionally representing his Basingstoke & Hants club in the MV40 age category, first ran in a Southern League Athletics Division 1 track meeting at Tooting Bec on 19/8/23, where he set a new record of 4 minutes 19.71 seconds.

He received a special commemorative certificate of achievement from the WMAL record and stats official Chris Pruski, but then surprised himself by quickly improving on this excellent time to claim another new record of 4 minutes 12 .83 seconds over the same distance during the Watford Harriers Open Graded track meeting on 23/8/23.

*Peter Watleys is pictured (*top of the story and above).

Peter then received a second certificate from Chris to confirm and update his record with both times noted and registered on the document. 

August obviously proved a golden time for this veteran athlete, but checking his stats for this year on Run Britain and PO10, it’s obvious he's also a quality runner over 400, 800, and 1500m events, and his times off the track at local parkruns at Sandy, Basingstoke, and at Newbury over 5k, are equally impressive, with a 16 minutes 44 seconds PB identified for this year, and other averages indicating times of between 17-18 minutes to be fairly common.

*Peter's two unique record breaking certificates are shown above.

*Peter Watkey’s latest records add to some other memorable records set by WMAL members including Dave Watson, Melanie Garland and Graham Holder, to name but a few who have proudly added to the Welsh Roll of Honour this summer. The link to the associated story about the other record holders is shown below from 8/8/23:

*Don Hale Blog: Welsh Masters Athletes set some remarkable new rec... https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com/2023/08/welsh-masters-athletes-set-some.html?spref=tw