Held in Denmark from 22 July-1 Aug 2004, 3703 athletes aged 35 through to 90-plus from 40 nations, entered the biggest international athletic meeting ever staged in that country. Germany had the largest entry with 938, Denmark 375, Great Britain & N. Ireland 352 and Italy with 198 competitors. British athletes return home loaded with medals, only Germany was ahead of us in the final medal tally.
Overcast skies with high humidity 20/22°c, and some intermittent rain did not dampen superb races and awe inspiring field event performances. 47 world, 64 European and 181 Championships age group records were broken during the 10 long days of competition. There were brilliant British performances, particularly in the sprints and relays despite the withdrawal from the team of M50 John Brown and W45 Averil McClelland through injury.
We got medals in the men’s 35-39 and M45 age groups 100m. Tony Noel and Dalton Powell were 1st and 2nd in the M40 event and the sheer blazing speed of the Lincolnshire doctor, Stephen Peters, took him to a clear victory in the M50 100m in 11.54 with Viv Oliver (11.96) and Walwyn Franklyn (12.00) getting silver and bronze - yet another British clean sweep in this magnificent age group where six of our members rank in the top 10 in the world! After the M50 200m had been whittled down from 50 entries to the final 8, these three crossed the finish line well ahead of the best in Europe. Only Michelchen of Germany, edging out Franklyn for the bronze medal in the 400m, prevented a whitewash. A further 2 gold medals were won in the relays with Philip Bell replacing John Brown in the 4 x 100m and our top hurdler, Robert Stevenson, sharing in the new World record time for M50 4 x 400m in 3.35.58sec.
Surrey athlete Viv Bonner set a World record in the W55 200m of 27.39, our W50 4 x 400m team of Nancy Hitchmouth, Helen Godsell, Jacqueline Walpole and Joylyn Saunders Mullins raced to another World record in 4.22.81sec.
British victories in the hurdles flowed in when Greg Dunson from the Midlands VAC easily won the M40 110m hurdles in 14.67, Des Wilkinson got the bronze. Greg got his second gold in the 400m hurdles in 56.65 after a 56.05 heat, with Jonathan Tilt 3rd. Howard Moscrop and Tony Mitchell raced to gold and silver in the M45 400mH, Phil McIlfatrick won the M50 100mH, Robert Stevenson and David Anderson gold and silver in the 400mH. Tony Wells, getting back to his brilliant best after injury, took both M55 titles. Top podium places went to the Liverpool sisters Wendy and Mandy Laing in the W40 80mH, Virginia Mitchell in the W40 and Jane Horder in the W45 400mH with W35 Geraldine Finegan and Clare Ackford picking up 2nd and 3rd.
David Elderfield, M45 and Joylyn Saunders Mullins W50 were 400m winners. Gold came from Sarah Heath in the W40 800m front running 2.14.16 and 1500 in 4.35.99, Westbury’s Pat Gallagher in the W55 800m race, Mike Erith also struck gold in the M55 race.
Dave Taylor ran Europe’s best middle distance men into the ground in the M40 1500 coming home clear in 3.54.83. His 5000m victory in 14.26.95 was even more emphatic with only the German Markus Pingpank, silver medallist from the 10000m on the opening day, attempting to stay with him on the first two laps. Ian Johnston picked up a silver in the M35 10000m.
The Ashford athlete, Jenny Brown won the W45 high jump and pentathlon, Wendy Laing the W40 high jump and Irie Hill soared to 3.90 in the W35 pole vault. Alan Williams got a silver in the M50 event. Ruddy Farquharson and Rez Cameron battled for gold and silver in an exciting M40 triple jump competition.
The field event competitors were spoilt for choice, a decathlon/heptathlon, a pentathlon, weight throw and weight pentathlon in addition to the normal field events. There were some brilliant performances right across all age groups. Drizzling rain and a slippery circle surface marred an otherwise great shot putt competition on the 25th with the M55 event the worse affected. The M40 title was as close as you can get with E. Pyritz, Germany, reached 16.72 for gold from the Russian, Fedyashcin with a putt of 16.71. Steve Whyte got the bronze with 16.12m. Steve won the hammer with a throw of 59.43 and weight pentathlon. Scotland’s Susan Freebairn did very well to hold off strong German opposition in the W35 discus.
Out on the road, 170 walkers lined up for the 20k walk on Day 8 over a perfectly designed spectator course that, fortunately, offered some shade on the warmest day. 82 year old Len Creo from Ross-on-Wye clocked in at 2.28.49 to take the M80 race and Colin Turner got a bronze in the M60 group.
The marathon on the final day, run over a deceptively difficult course, attracted a very good field indeed. The first three women were all under three hours. Julia Myatt was second home in 2.58.13, a great run.