British Masters Athletics Federation Championships
Alexander Stadium, Birmingham – Sat & Sun 25th/26th July 2015
Kingston upon Hull AC’s Diane Smith, Darren Gibson and John Twiddle travelled down to Birmingham’s Alexander stadium over the weekend of the 25 and 26th of July for the British Master Athletics Federation (BMAF) championships. This is one of the biggest domestic events for Masters (aged over 35) athletes, with 798 entries from around the UK and overseas.
Diane Smith was first to compete, taking part in the W50 Hammer throw on Saturday the 25th. The event proved to be highly competitive, with nine athletes battling for the medals. Diane finished in 4th place with a season’s best throw of 38.80m.
John Twiddle was next up with a 09:30am start for the M45 hammer on the Sunday morning. After a cautious start to the competition which took place in difficult rainy conditions, John took the lead in the 4th round and held on for the gold medal with a throw of 40.87m. This gave him a narrow victory over local rival Matthew Hammond (39.67m) of Scunthorpe AC who had also taken silver the previous day in the discus with a throw of 34.53m.
Darren Gibson was next in the circle for the M50 hammer. The competition started promisingly with an effort of 37.02m, a two metre improvement on his result the previous weekend. Unfortunately in the second round Darren suffered a strain to his back and had to drop out of the competition, finishing in 9th place. After some physiotherapy and light training Darren will travel to Lyon in France, later this month to compete at the World Masters Athletics Championships.
John Twiddle took part in two further events. The shot Putt, which took place in heavy rain, making the conditions difficult for both the athletes and officials alike. Despite the weather John took the gold medal with a distance of 11.69m, significantly down on his season’s best but comfortably ahead of the second placed athlete on 9.45m.
Finally in the 35lb weight throw and with the rain reduced to a drizzle, John completed a hat-trick of gold medals with a personal best 11.84m.
