The British & Irish Masters CC Champs hosted by English Masters in Roundhay Park, Leeds last weekend, will go down in the annals as one of the most challenging events in the history of these Champs & that was even before the racing commenced on Saturday. With storm Claudia disrupting many flights on Friday, Athletes, Supporters & Team Managers had to make hasty plans to make it over to Leeds on time, with some getting onto alternative flights to Manchester & others rescheduled for a 6.30 a.m flight on Sat. With a total Team of 80 Athletes, only a very small handful failed to make it to the start line, such was the commitment of all selected to compete. The torrential rain from Friday & overnight had eased considerably by Sat morn & with start time delayed by an hour to facilitate those who had only arrived out to Roundhay Park, Irish Team Management raised serious concerns about one section of the course, where Athletes ran down a steep hill & then had a 90 degree sharp left turn onto a single lane. Course Referee agreed to modify the course & whilst it still proved to be dangerous, all Athletes agreed afterwards, that it was the lesser of two evils.

Race 1, over 6000m finally commenced at noon for Men & Women 65plus. Going into this Champ, Team Ireland were out to defend both Men & Women’s title’s plus overall shield, which was captured for the very first time in Belfast in 2025. It was always going to be a very tough challenge, especially so with England smarting from this loss last year, so they fielded strong teams throughout all the age groups winning 12 of the 17 team titles & 11 of the 19 Ind titles on offer. Ireland Masters won 3 Ind Gold, with Christine Kennedy F70, Margaret Glavey F75 & Pauric McKinney M60, plus 3 Team Golds in F60, F70 & F75. Ind Silver for Sinead O’Connor F35, Noeleen Scanlon F40, Dymphna Ryan F45, Annette Kealy F55, Niamh O’Sullivan F60 & Jo Martin F70, plus Team silvers in F35, F40, F45, F55, M35, M40, M45, M50, M60 & M75. Ind Bronze medals for Catriona Devine F50, Kay Byrne F60, Niall Shanahan M40 & Pauric Sweeney M75, plus Team Bronze F50, F65 & M50. All Women’s Teams won medals with 2 Men’s Teams failing to finish on the podium. Despite the arduous course, majority of Athletes had plenty of energy left to enjoy the post-race banquet & disco in the Queens Hotel later that night. Full results on the link below.

https://bmaf.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2025/GBR/bimcci/scores/

A special word of thanks to Team Managers, Pat O’Grady plus his wife Mary who stepped into the breech on Friday eve to help distribute race no’s & instructions. What a way to celebrate their wedding anniversary weekend. Also, to George Maybury & Michael Fennell, who eventually got to Leeds late Fri night & straight into Team Managers meeting.  To all the Athletes, especially those who went through hoops to get to Leeds, we are greatly indebted to you for your commitment. Any Athlete who did not receive their commemorative selection medal, we will have them in Derry this weekend, so please give us a shout. Also, we did pick up Championship medals for some Athletes who had to return home on Sat eve, so again, if in Derry, get in contact or have a clubmate pick up.

As we are scheduled to host these Champs in 2026, we would encourage all Master Athletes to give it a go for trial race next Oct as we will be endeavouring to recapture those titles.

Also delighted to announce that we recently nominated the following Athletes to AAI for Master Athlete of the Year:

Anne Gilshinan,

Michael Kiely,

Edel Maguire

Declan Toal.

The winner will be announced at AAI Gala Awards, Crowne Plaza on Wed next 26^th Nov.

Michael Fennell.

IMAA Comm