PANVAC 'oldies' were golden again thanks to great team effort

Peterborough & Nene Valley AC’s combined mens and ladies veteran athletes have won the Eastern Masters Track and Field League for the third successive year.

They achieved the feat at Milton Keynes when they fought off the challenges of a number of quality teams from across the East, some of whom contained national and even world masters champions.

The combined, and triumphant, PANVAC Men and Ladies Masters team in Milton Keynes.

placeholder image — The combined, and triumphant, PANVAC Men and Ladies Masters team in Milton Keynes.

Last year the PANVAC ladies finished as the top team, but they had to settle for silver medals this year after being beaten by Thurrock & Loughton AC.

The men, who were fourth in 2023, collected bronze this time finishing behind Milton Keynes AC & Bedford AC in the eight-team finals.

Though Milton Keynes & Thurrock were in hot pursuit the combined PANVAC team held them off and captain Claire Smith was again able to lift the coveted winners cup.

The silverware didn't stop there as Ros Loutit picked up the trophy for the best female track performance of the meeting (based on an age grading system), when running an 11:53.4 3,000m. For tactical reasons the 60 year-old ran in the age 50-59 race and still managed to finish second.

The day was not without controversy when Tim Clough was disqualified in the 2km walk. Clough finished the race in fourth place behind a pair of Olympians, but only found out he'd been disqualified from the highly technical event when he went to check his time long after the officials, who should have informed him of his fate, had gone home.

Judith Jagger performed as a one-woman team, taking part in 11 events, and scoring 80 of the PANVAC ladies total of 249 points.

Ros Loutit with her prestigious individual award from the Eastern Masters Track and Field Championships.

Jagger won the over 60 long jump, discus, javelin, shot and hammer, in which she threw 24.50m.

Claire Smith achieved two third place finishes in the over 35 sprints, saving her best performance for the 400m in which she finished second with a time of 67.6. Over 50 sprinter Wendy Day was third in the 100m and second in both the 200m and 400m. Day clocked 32.96 in the 200m.

Long distance ace Loutit won the over 60 300m hurdles while fellow long distance runner Nicky Morgan picked up two over 50 second places. Betty Gash was first in the over 60 3,000m with Liz Sennitt Clough runner-up in the over 35 race.

Andrea Jenkins won the over 35 hammer with a distance of 43.51 and finished second in two other throwing events, while Sally Pusey & Kay Gibson also picked up valuable points.

For the men, Sean Reidy won the over 35 400m in a time of 55.0. Reidy also took first place in the 400m hurdles. Julian Smith won the over 50 400m in a time of 69.1 and took second spot in the 100 and 200m races.

Dan Lewis gained a second place finish in the over 35 800m and placed third in the 3,000m. Brian Corleys was runner up in the over 50 800 & 1500m races.

The ever dependable Simon Achurch finished third in all four over 35 throwing events, while Jim Gillespie won the over 60 hammer with a distance of 27.40m and finished second in the shot.

Delighted team captain Claire Smith said: “I'm very happy we have been crowned the best masters team in the Eastern region for the third year in a row. It was an amazing team effort!”