EUROPEAN MASTERS ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS INDOOR 2026 – TORÚN, POLAND
The first race for Geoff Newton at the European Masters Indoor Championships was the 3000m
On Sunday 22nd March, like many of you, I watched the World Indoors Athletics Championships at the Torún Arena on BBC television when team GB won three golds. On Friday 27th of March I found myself in the very same arena running the M80 3000m at the European Masters Indoor Championships.
The Arena had been given a new track and a makeover for the Worlds, so everything had been upgraded and the latest tech installed including many big screens so that spectators could watch all the action no matter where they were sitting.
The M80s assemble ahead of their 3000m race
To their credit the organisers tried to match that for the Masters so that competitors were individually introduced to the spectators beforehand, with close-ups, just like the Worlds. Action was streamed live to who knows where. Everything about the arena is now world class and made for a great experience. There was a decent atmosphere as many of the 3,500 competitors watched a lot of the action when they were not themselves competing.
Geoff was very much hoping to contend for a medal in all his races
Unlike the Outdoor Championships in Madeira last year there were no really outstanding M80 competitors in the Indoors. The 3000m is a new event for me. I am still learning. My only previous foray into this event occurred at a poorly attended British Masters in Cardiff in January. There I was in a race against two classy M70 runners and one fellow M80. Knowing I could easily beat my fellow M80 I tried unsuccessfully to keep up with the M70’s and paid the price with a poor time. The 3000 is on the border between a middle distance and an endurance event. Alas I am no middle-distance runner.
It was a third place finish for Geoff in the M80 3000m race
This time I was up against seven other M80’s and one M65 and one M90. I expected the most opposition from Ake Jonson the Swede and Jerzy Kopta – a Pole. They set the early pace. It soon became obvious that they were setting a pace I could not (and they probably could not) keep up. So, I did not bust a gut trying to keep up. At just over halfway I was caught by Ronaldatus Konduratus a Lithuanian.
Geoff takes his position on the third step of the podium
After a further lap or two I decided to charge for home, despite feeling stretched at the time. The Lithuanian did not respond. I was also making inroads into the gap between me and the two leaders. In the final stages Jerzy Kopta broke free to take gold in 15:30.91 and I just failed in 15:32.09 to catch a spent Ake Jonson (15:30.13) by two seconds.
The podium for the M80 3000m race
The Lithuanian was fourth in 15:51.35. There were two other brits in the race, Michael Johnson and Barrie Roberts who finished 5th in 16:10.90 and 8th in 19:41.63 respectively. With hindsight I should have made my charge a lap earlier.
Geoff sets off in the 5k road race
There was only one day’s rest between the 3000m and the 5K road race. These days I need two days rest between races. It was going to be interesting to see if the others would be similarly affected. As things worked out, the 3000m results were turned on their head and I am sure this had something to do with it.
The race didn’t go completely to plan for Geoff
Things got off to a shambolic start. Originally there were to be three separate starts each separated by 5 minutes, the younger men followed by the older men and then all the women… There was a late decision to send off all the men together, but the change was not well publicised. As a result, I had to cut short my warm-up and Michael Johnson missed the start by two minutes. The weather was very cold and breezy.
I started far more quickly than I should, basically to keep warm and paid the price. After 1km I was struggling. I kept expecting Jonson and Kopta to come past but this did not happen. Instead, it was Konduratus who caught me up at about 2km. At about 3km things got worse. For the first time in over 60 years of racing my bowels decided to leak with messy results, which made the rest of the race unpleasant. Fortunately, my shorts did a good job of hiding this problem. About this time Konduratus got away from me. The rest of the race was a struggle.
Geoff battled it out to earn a second place finish
As I neared the finish, I became aware of Kopta finally catching up with me. A frantic sprint ensued. Ronaldus Kondratus got his pace judgement spot on, and this won him the M80 race in a slow 26.26 with me 2nd M80 in 26.52 with Kopta one second behind me. Ake Jonson was suffering from the 3000m and was 4th M80 in 27.44.
The missed start led to Michael Johnson recording 29.50 as 6th M80. Barrie Roberts was 10th of 11 M80’s in 38.04. Team results are worked out by cumulative time. The first M80 team was Poland, UK second of two. I was hoping to get inside 26 minutes which would have got 1st M80 but it was not meant to be this time.
The cross country was Geoff’s third race of the European Masters Championships
We had two days of rest before the cross-country. This was held in a “park” adjacent to the Arena. This was basically hilly / undulating forest, mostly of conifers., with a network of paths, mostly surfaced with fine gravel. The ground was surprisingly dry and “flats” were the order of the day.
The ground was surprisingly dry so Geoff wore his flats
The courses were based on a 2km lap designed to incorporate as many hills as possible. I enjoy this sort of thing. However, the hills mean that it is advisable for most old people to avoid going eyeballs out at the start. The over 70’s ran three laps and younger age groups ran four laps.
It was an undulating course but Geoff enjoys that
I identified the two Irish runners John McMullin and Richard Mullins (both newly into the age group) as the main threats and thought I could handle the other 8 M80’s in the race. I set off at what seemed to be a reasonable pace and found myself just behind John McMullin and clear of Richard Mullins.
Geoff came away with another second place finish
However, John went off at a pace I would not be able to sustain, and he was out of sight by half-way round the first lap. By which time I had caught and passed Ake Jonson who offered no resistance. Eventually, soon after the start of the 3rd lap John M came back into sight in the distance, giving me the incentive to press harder.
Geoff collects his silver medal after the cross country race
Whilst he had clearly slowed, he had not blown up either. My pursuit became ever more frantic as the finish came nearer, culminating in a flat-out sprint. I finished just 3 seconds behind John, some helpful person warning him of my approach. He was first M80 and I was 2nd M80.
Michael Johnson had dipped out of the race and flown home early, so a potential gold team medal was lost. However, Barrie Roberts and me were able to drop down to make up an M75 team with Ron Cattle. Ron finished 2nd M75 and the three of us finished 3rd M75 (of 4 teams) and got a bronze medal as some compensation.
Geoff with the other M80 medallists from the cross country race
Glass half full or glass half empty? These days I am permanently on the verge of retirement as in my training my feet hurt and more often than not, I feel knackered. However, the adrenaline in racing overcomes this. So, a haul of three individual medals and two team medals from three races is plenty of incentive to continue.
The downside is that with better pace judgement some of the individual silvers might have been gold and the bronze might have been a silver.
I did not recognise any other BAC members there, although I did see Andrew Ridley who some of you might know. He won an impressive 800m and 1500m double in M60 in 2:07.63 and 4:22.97 respectively.
Geoff with the other team medallists from the M75 category
Of course, competition between 80 year olds is more about longevity and stubbornness than talent. There were several world age group records broken at this event including John Wright of GB setting an M65 World indoor 400m record of 54.92. Even a few big names present including former Olympic medal winning athletes from Poland. Not to mention the controversial Dwayne Chambers.
In the future there will be many more big events here in the Torún Arena, both in professional athletics and with the “Masters”. Torún as a city is a nice place to visit. The walled old town on the banks of the Vistula is separated from the modern city by a ring of parks and is a UNESCO World Heritage site for it’s Gothic Architecture. So I can recommend anyone to take part in the European or World Masters Indoors when they next come back to Torún.
Geoff Newton