Claire’s middle aged army to march on Milton Keynes for a final

The Peterborough and Nene Valley AC team won both the men’s and women’s Northern Area Leagues, and will line up for the finals at Milton Keynes on September 25 with high hopes of a podium place in both competitions.

As ever captain Smith led by example as she won the over 35s 200m with a 28.3 clocking. Her Peterborough team also won the over 60s race courtesy of Judith Jagger and the men’s over 35s and over 50s 200ms with Dave Brown and Julian Smith their usual speedy selves.

Three of the four successful sprinters are rated top 10 in the country in their age group over 200m, with Claire Smith topping the he list as second over 45. Jagger is ranked 18th, but is 11th in the hammer which she also won with a throw of 21.92m.

Steve Hall, Elisabeth Sennit-Clough and Alison Dunphy all won their mile races, while Sean Reidy won the over 35s 400m hurdles at a canter. The versatile Reidy collected a javelin personal best (PB) with a winning throw of 35.92m.

Karl Eve enjoyed his evening taking top spot in the over 50s shot, javelin and pole vault while Andrea Jenkins and Sally Pusey both did the double in the shot and javelin.

Kevin Bates threw 9.88m when winning the men’s shot, and Gemma Skells placed first in the over 35s pole vault.

The men won by almost 50 points, while the women finished 32 points clear.