LEAMINGTON Cycling and Athletics Club runner Monica Williamson led an array of medal-winning performances by taking gold at the annual BMAF (British Masters Athletics Federation) track and field championships.
Susie Tawney also took silver in the competition at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, while Phil Gould and John Knibb took bronze.
Williamson and Tawney both raced in the W55 category in a mixed age group race in the 5,000m.
After two laps, the pace stepped up with Williamson and two others pulling away from the group and opening up a lead stretching to a half lap by half way.
Hilary McGrath, opened up a further gap to win in a time of 19.12 for the W50 category, leaving Williamson to lead home the rest of the field and first W55 to claim gold in 19.32. Williamson, returning from injury, was hoping to secure a good enough time to catch the England selectors’ eye for the Home International Cross Country later in the year.
Tawney, using the championships as a warm-up for this month’s World Masters Championships in Lyons, France, ran a well-measured race to claim silver for the category in 20:12.
Gould (M35) and John Knibb (M50) won bronze medals for their respective 1,500m races on the Saturday, the number and quality of the entries meaning they were run in single age groups. Gould clocked 4:23.10 and Knibb 4:34.65.
Both athletes made the journey to Birmingham again on the Sunday for the 800m where Gould was fourth in 2:05.8 and Knibb was fifth in 2:13.90.
