36th British & Irish Masters Cross Country International, Leeds, 2025
Geoff Newton was contending for gold in the M80 category at the British & Irish Masters Cross Country International
“This is a cross-country competition between individuals and teams from the four Home Countries and Ireland. The competitions are in 5 -year age groups as is usual in veteran’s athletics, starting at 35 -39 and going all the way up to 80+ for the men and 75+ for the women.
What makes this competition special? Firstly, what athlete with any competitive edge at all has not dreamed of being selected to run for their country? This is a rare opportunity for runners of all ages to do just that and get “the vest”. Selection makes it special and confers status on the runner selected.
Geoff (second from the left) with the England Masters team
As an example, in the days when clubs were restricted to nine runners in the National XC Championships my former club used to enter a team most years and indeed I remember us hiring a coach to take us from Surrey to Roundhay Park in Leeds. When the ECCU allowed clubs to enter as many runners as they wished, our members lost interest and we never fielded a team again. The selection process made it special.
It was game on for the England team
Secondly the organisers do their best to make it an occasion. Medals and trophies are presented not on the course, but after a dinner in the evening at a posh hotel. This year the presentation and dinner were held in the plush surroundings of the Ballroom of the Queens Hotel in Leeds.
Geoff (on the left) with the rest of his England Master teammates
After the dinner, Jack Buckner a former athlete of renown and current CEO of UK Athletics gave a short speech, before presenting the medals. Given the rivalry between the nations the presentation was a rowdy affair. The rivalry between the nations adds another layer of interest.
Geoff starts off in the first race which was for the over 65s
The course is normally at an iconic venue. Roundhay Park is no exception. There was a well-informed commentary. This year there were also a few clips of the racing appearing on the regional BBC news in the evening.
Geoff was confident of at least a second place finish in his category
The nations field teams of 5 (four to score) in each age group below 55-59 and teams of four (three to score) in age groups above that. Medals are given for both individual and teams below 80+ for the men and below 75+ for the women. This was only the second year that M80+ and W75+ runners were competing for individual medals. Team medals will have to wait until most nations can field a team.
The course consisted of 2km laps which included one big hill
Currently England use a selection race (this year piggy backed onto a Staffordshire league race at Crewe). For M80+ the team was to be the first three to finish plus a fourth at the discretion of the team of selectors. Peter Giles was confident of getting the discretionary place and so missed the Crewe race, leaving me, Richard Bloom, and Michael Johnson to get the automatic places.
Geoff gave his all to try and catch Peter Giles who was first M80
Michael had to drop out with a bad knee and 1st reserve Martin Ford was also unable to run, so in the end the 4th M80 in the selection race Paul Newby got a run anyway. In the other nations it has been common in the past for M80’s to feature in M75 teams but this year Barrie Roberts of Wales was the only M80 from outside England to run.
Geoff dug really deep to get the best out of himself
It rained continuously for the 24 hours before the race day, such that travel to Leeds was difficult for everyone and indeed the race programme was put back an hour to give everyone a better chance of getting there. On race day there was just a light drizzle the whole time.
Geoff was gaining ground on Peter on the third lap
The Roundhay Park course was based on a 2km lap. Runners of over 65 years did three laps to give a 6km race, the younger runners did 4 laps to make an 8km race. The course is basically undulating grassland, but with one massive hill (up and down).
It was a really strong run from Geoff
Originally the organisers put a zig-zag in the big descent to slow runners down but eventually they decided that people might come to grief on the bends, given the wet conditions and a straight descent was chosen for which I was thankful. There was standing water on some of the flat sections of the course. I was glad we were in the first race (M & W65+) before it got really churned up.
In my four previous runs in this event, I came away with a 1st place team medal, but my highest individual age group placing was 5th in my 1st year as an M65. 2025 was clearly going to be my best chance at an individual medal with basically only my fellow England runners to beat.
Geoff ended up being only 15 seconds behind Peter
On current form it would be Peter Giles first, me second and Richard Bloom third. However, although Peter has been in record breaking form recently, I know that he does not like hills, so I made sure he did not get out of sight. During the race I gained on him going uphill and lost it again going downhill. This was not what I expected given I was losing ground to other, younger runners going uphill and clawing it back on the downhill.
The splits for each lap tell the story. Peter’s first lap was 25 seconds faster than mine, our 2nd lap times were identical, and I was 10 seconds faster on the last lap. I passed Richard just over halfway round the first lap and never saw him again. So, my prediction was correct, but I was pleased to finish much closer to Peter than I have been for a long time. We were both pretty spent at the finish, I nearly threw up, and Peter actually did.
Peter was 72nd in 36:08, I was 74th in 36:23, Richard was 82nd in 38:17. Race1 had 99 finishers. Paul Newby was 90th in 41:16, Barrie Roberts 99th. That’s the M80’s sorted.
The England team won the overall competition from all groups combined
There were three other international races, Race 2 for women 35-39 up to to 60-64, Race 3 Men 50-54 up to 60-64, Race 4 Men 35-39 up to 45-49. Finally, an open race over three laps, basically put on for the travelling reserves and their mates. So, lots of other competition, mostly of a much higher standard, but no space here for that. To find out about what happened in your age group I direct you to the internet. Ditto the team competitions.
The team points are all totted up and there are overall trophies for the top men’s nation, top women’s nation and the overall, overall trophy for the top nation overall. This year the order was predicably England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, Ireland have been on top in some recent years and there were plenty of individual and age group successes for the smaller nations to keep them coming back for more.
I was sufficiently pleased with my run to postpone my retirement from running for at least another 6 months. It would also seem to indicate no obvious long-term effects from my recent bout of Covid-19.
By Geoff Newton