Jagger jumps to it as PANVAC retain Masters titles

​Jagger competed in an energy-sapping 10 events in blistering heat. She won four of them and took the field performance of the day accolade for her high jump of 1.18m.

The 62 year-old won the over 60 high and triple jumps. She showed her versatility when also taking first place in the shot & 300m hurdles events. Jagger enjoyed 2nd place finishes in the hammer, discus and long jump and took 3rd spot in the 100 and 200m sprints.

As if that wasn't enough she was part of the quartet who won the final event of the day, the over 50 sprint relay!

The men were without a number of key athletes, but still finished 4th out of eight teams, securing sufficient points to make PANVAC the leading team for combined male and female scores.

Max Hall starred for the men winning the over 35 long jump with a leap of 5.78m and the javelin with a 51.20m throw. Hall also came 2nd in the high jump and 3rd in the 400m hurdles.

The winning ladies team provided Jagger with great back-up and Wendy Day made a clean sweep of the over 50 100m, 200m and 400m races.

Her 100m time of 15.5 gave her a victory margin of almost two seconds.

Team captain Claire Smith made her mark on the competition winning the over 35 100m and 200m as well as placing 2nd in the 400m hurdles.

Understandably Smith was delighted that PANVAC retained their title, saying: "I'm so proud to come home with the winning trophy for the ladies and the overall combined team trophy, both for the second year in a row.

"Everyone plays their part and the team spirit is amazing. We really are the best squad of masters athletes in the East and we won't be giving up that title any time soon!"

Alison Dunphy won the over 50 long jump, while the over 35 throwing events were dominated by Andrea Jenkins who won the hammer, shot and javelin as well as finishing 2nd in the discus. Her hammer throw of 39.40m was double that of her nearest opponent.

Nicky Morgan was 2nd in the over 5000m.

Wendy Perkins, Ros Loutit and Betty Gash scored valuable points with four 3rd places and two 4ths between them. Brenda Church and Kay Gibson both picked up points in the 2km walk.

A consistent Sally Pusey finished 3rd in the over 50 shot, 4th in the hammer and discus as well as 5th in the javelin.

Phil Martin won the over 35 3,000m, staged at the hottest point of the day, in a time of 9:31.7.

Dave Knighton finished as runner-up in the over 60 800m with a 2:25.8 clocking, while Tim Clough was unfortunate to come up against two internationals when coming home 3rd in the 2km walk. Steve Harknett, who had never race walked before, avoided the novices disqualification curse when placing 4th B string walker.

Despite suffering from post-COVID fatigue Julian Smith managed to take 2nd spot in the over 50 200m and 3rd place in the 100m.

Useful points were won in the throws, with Simon Achurch finishing 3rd in the over 35 discus and 4th in the hammer and shot. Tim Needham took 4th place in the over 50 hammer.

In addition to placing 3rd in the over 60 shot, Karl Eve finished 2nd in the pole vault and 3rd in the high jump.

Brian Corleys finished 3rd in the over 35 1,500m with a 4:33.9 PB.

Reigning over 70 national triple jump champion John Springs jumped to 5th place in the over 60 triple and long jumps.

There were also 5th place finishes for David Wassell, Barry Warne, Sean Beard and Andrew Robson, while Kevin Bates placed 6th in the over 60 hammer and discus. Ian McLaughlin took 7th spot in the over 35 100 & 200m sprints.