Former World Masters Cross-country and 10,000m champion Brighton & Hove’s Nigel Gates is still turning in winning performances despite now being in his sixties.
Gates, who is one of a select band of athletes who have won three Sussex senior titles, has been concentrating on triathlons in recent years to ease the pounding of his knees and has particularly avoided cross country event.
He has however returned to running per se and after recently winning the British Masters M60 10-mile road title he added the British Masters M60 cross country crown to his name at Bath.
Gates finished a remarkable 33rd in the overall event, which included all athletes from M35 up, clocking 28:42. He confessed that he has not returned to a full training schedule again but was pleased to be racing seriously again.
BATH HALF-MARATHON
American doctor Chris Zablocki, who is attending Chichester University and racing for the local club seems to have caught Chichester star, James Baker’s, racing bug.
Zablocki seems to be racing most weekends, sometimes twice, and at the prestigious Bath Half-Marathon he just missed the medals in what proved to be a high class event.
Several Kenyan competitors and Aldershot’s Jonny Hay, currently one of the top British middle distance runners featured in the line up.
The race was won in record time by Kenyan Robert Mbithi in 61:45 ahead of Hay, who has his eyes set on the London Marathon, who clocked 64:53 holding off the attention of another Kenyan before Zablocki stormed in in 65:38.
MIXED FORTUNES IN OREGON.
There were mixed fortunes for Sussex representatives in the World Indoor Championships when Hastings’s Lee Emanuel made the final of the 3000m but Charlie Grice (Brighton Phoenix) missed a 1500m place.
Emanuel, now 31, ran an excellent second heat
to finish fourth in 7:51.65, an automatic qualification.
There was not such good fortune for Grice who was drawn in the slowly run first heat and was run out in the sprint for the finish placing fifth in 3:49.03.
Six of the nine finalists were to come from the second heat who had the advantage of knowing just what time they needed to qualify.
Emanuel will be lining up for today’s (Sun) final at 8.45 our time.