EUROPEAN MASTERS ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS NON-STADIA, CATANIA, SICILY
Geoff Newton was competing Great Britain in the M80 category at the European Masters Non-Stadia Championships
“The European Masters Championships run on a two-year cycle. The main stadia championships happened in the summer of 2025 over two weeks in the summer. The Indoors and the Non -Stadia happened in the spring of 2026. The Indoors happened over 8 days in Torun, Poland and the Non -Stadia a month later over a long weekend in Catania, Sicily.
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I think the format of the Non-Stadia stinks, but in the past, I have turned it to my advantage. Basically, there is a 10K road race on the Friday, a cross-country relay on the Saturday and a Half Marathon on the Sunday. Now I am an old man I need at least two clear days to recover from the 10K and as the half marathon has always in the past been the better event for me, I gave the 10K a miss. This gives me a relative advantage over the runners who have done the 10K. That’s the theory. Unfortunately, I have done very little training recently due to foot problems (more of that later) so perhaps this was the wrong choice of race. There were also programmes of Race Walking and Nordic Race Walking but that sort of thing has no appeal for me.
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Catania, situated in the shadow of Mount Etna, is the second city of Sicily and a city of contrasts. Etna erupted in 1693 and razed the city to the ground, so the entire city was rebuilt in the same baroque style, which has mostly survived to the present day as in recent times the city has not prospered. So away from the posh shops in the centre there is much graffiti, litter and dereliction. There is however a lot for the tourist to see in the daytime and in the evening the city centre is thronged with people enjoying the performance of the street entertainers and eating and drinking.
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The city centre is unsuitable for running, as the streets are all surfaced with black, uneven lava blocks, polished shiny by the scariest drivers in all Italy (which really says something). A few Km away from the centre there are quiet tarmac roads by the coast, lined with a scattering of posh hotels and private beaches. These have been bypassed by a new fast road, so it was possible to close these roads for the duration of the races.
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The half marathon was two laps of an almost flat out and back course. No shade. The start and finish were located a few hundred metres from a turning point.
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Not inspiring but at least the four turning points provided opportunities to view the rest of the field. Runners over 80 are always thin on the ground, particularly over the longer distances. There were only six M80 entries for the half marathon. Two Swiss including Hans Weidermeier who won the 10K, another Brit Martin Ford (4th in the 10K), Ake Jonson a Swede who was 2nd in the 10K , and Letterio de Lorenzo an Italian. The Italian like me had given the 10K a miss.
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On the day Martin and the other Swiss did not run. Thinking the Italian to be the main threat I tracked him until the just before the turn at nearly 5km and as I felt good by then I pushed on a bit and caught up Mike Mann, an M75 I know well and ran with him for the rest of the 1st lap. At the 2nd turning-point I was well clear of the Italian and the Swede with the Swiss a long way back. However, at halfway my lack of training began to make its presence felt. Mike speeded up and I gradually slowed. I was still clear of Ake and Letterio (Hans had dropped out) but perhaps they were slightly closer by the third turn. By this time my feet were becoming quite painful.
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With less than 1km to go and the last turn in sight, I heard the sounds of pursuit. My old foe Ake Jonson. At the last turn I accelerated as best I could and drew away for a short while. However, this did not last, and Ake came past like I was standing still and the gold turned to silver in sight of the finish. Can’t blame it on my tactics, just the lack of training. The Italian had slowed even more than me, but at least he was assured of the bronze as the Swiss had dropped out. Times were very slow with Ake 2:03:02, me 2:03:38. L de L 2:07:16. Ake and me had come up against each other seven times previously with the results Five to Two in my favour. It’s now Five to Three.
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Afterwards even walking was painful. I had planned to visit Mount Etna 2 or 3 days later and look at some of the craters but gave up on that idea as too much walking might be involved.
.Geoff came close to gold but had to settle for silver in the end
Basically, I need to sort out my feet so I can enjoy running again. My provisional diagnosis is that its either arthritis or just a combination of old age and too many miles on the clock from 60+ years of running. So, no easy answers. I don’t get on too well with current trainers with their stacked heels which cause me more pain than my old lightweight racing flats.
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My current plan is to give up on road racing and concentrate on more forgiving surfaces like cross country, trail racing and track and to repurpose my 15 years old road racing flats for training and to wear the trainers down the pub instead. Hopefully this may give me another year or so before I retire from the sport for good. Will my body give out first or will these already much-mended old flats fall apart first? Time will tell.
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Brits were well represented in Torun but surprisingly less so in Catania. The first 6 male finishers overall in the half marathon were Italian and the first Brit finished in 50th position. In an ideal world I should have been drafted into the GB M75 team in the HM and come away with a “silver” team medal. Alas the GB Team Manager declared Martin Ford instead of me, but Martin decided not to run. The other members of the M75 team Mike Mann and Trevor Edgeley were spitting feathers when they found out. This sort of thing was never a problem in the past when we indicated our availability on a notice board at the registration venue. Now everything is done on WhatsApp, but a procedure for sorting this out seems yet to have been developed. Mobile phones are supposed to make communication easier!”
By Geoff Newton