North Wales athletes performed well at prestigious Indoor Championships.

*Pictured above - super vet Dave Gardner, who won gold at Deeside.

North Wales athletes performed well at prestigious Indoor Championships...

Report by Don Hale.

https://donhaleblog.blogspot.com

 

Three top veteran athletes hit good form at two different Indoor Championship events last weekend, with North Wales Road Runner Steve Gardner crossing the Pennines to compete for the Welsh Masters on the track in the 3000m, whilst his father Dave struck gold in the shot putt event at Coleg Cambria, Deeside, alongside Paul Brooks, who also won gold in his own respective age category.

Steve however, despite an excellent performance in Sheffield, said he was slightly down on his best time for this distance, but admitted to facing some stern competition, from rivals.

 

*Above left - Steve and Dave Gardner, and (*right) Paul Brooks.

After the event, Steve confirmed: “I competed in the British Masters Indoor Championships last Sunday. It was a very strong MV60 age category held over two races. I finished 2nd in the B race in a time of 10.43 which meant I was 10th overall taking into consideration the times of both races. I was five-seconds slower than my PB but pleased with my performance on the day.”  

And not to be left out of the honours, Steve’s father, super-vet Dave Gardner, collected another prestigious gold medal at the Welsh Masters Indoor championships at Coleg Cambria, Deeside last weekend with a winning shot putt of 7.03m in his MV85 age cat.

Meanwhile, another super-vet, Paul Brooks, from the North Wales Regional Athletics Council, who was representing his Wrexham AC club at Deeside, also won gold in the shot competition in his MV75-79 age cat.

Afterwards, a delighted Paul confirmed: “In January 2024, I threw 7.31m in the shot in the N. Wales Indoor Champs. Since then, I haven’t been able to get over 7 metres, despite numerous (six) attempts, until yesterday, when I finally threw 7m25 in the Welsh Masters indoor champs. I’ve won several gold medals just because I’m often the only one in the M75-79 category, so although it was the case yesterday, I feel I earned this one!”