Angela Copson of Rugby & Northampton AC came away with four gold and two silver medals from the World Masters Indoor and Non-Stadia Championships in Torun, Poland while John Moreland also clinched gold with a British record.
Competing in the W70 category Copson set herself a tough timetable of events with 6 races in 7 days. Four of these events were on the track and on the first day she took gold in the 3000m with a time of 12:52.36, an event in which she is already the world record holder. The next day she was outside in the 6k cross country event and took her unbeaten streak to 34 on this surface with a winning time of 30:43.
Back indoors on day three Copson stormed round the 400m final in 80.70 secs to take gold in a new Britsh record before then going back outside the following day on the roads for the 10k event. Copson’s victory in 45:47 for 10k was the 20th individual World Masters title of her career.
The final two events were indoors over 800m and 1500m and on day five of the Championships after winning 40 consecutive gold medals in the W70 age group Copson suffered her first ever defeat. She was the current world record holder going into the 800m with 2:58.03 and had a terrific run to smash her personal best in a new European record of 2:56.36, but had to settle for silver behind the USA’s Sabra Harvey who broke the world record with 2:50.57. The pair went head to head again on the seventh and final day in the 1500m. The American athlete once again had a winning margin of 6 secs with 5:57.19 to Copson’s 6:03.41.
Rugby & Northampton M60 athlete John Moreland took part in four throwing events. In his best event he threw the 1k discus out to a distance of 54.24 metres to win the gold in a new British record. He added 37cm to the previous record set two and a half years ago. In the 9.08k weight throw he achieved 15:62 for 5th place and then placed 7th in the 5k Hammer with 42:59 before completing his championships in the Shot (5k) with 12:44 for 8th spot.
