Leamington’s veteran men are on track and ahead of the field

The combined men’s and women’s team won the combined trophy in the Midlands Masters Final in 2010, but this is the first time the men have won the league individually.

The 2015 season saw the men dominate the track events in the eight-team league, winning every one of the league relay events courtesy of Dom Browne, Chris Georgiou, Mark McAleenan, Phil Clayton, Tony Foster, Craig Bower, Mark Wise and Phil Gould.

Bower has shone in the 400m and 800m events, while John Knibb has starred over 800m and 1500m and Gould has used his speed endurance to good effect in the middle distance events.

In the M60 and M70 age groups, Dave Potter, Lawrie Dunn and Di Vaughan have contributed valuable points over events from 100m to 800m.

Dunn, Pete Brown, Noel Butler and Jim Sinnett have also provided useful points in the field events.

The women’s team were weakened through injuries and family commitments, but the nucleus of Delia Caruana, Judith Hanlon, Liz Ibbs, Chris Taylor, Susie Tawney and Sara Habib performed admirably to finish third.

Leamington then went on to finish third in the Midlands Area Masters final behind host club Worcester and Northampton & Rugby.

 Massey Ferguson’s Peter Paprcka won Leamington C&AC’s one-hour track race for a second time, pipping clubmate Simon Brown by just 53 metres.

Paprcka completed 14,755 metres – almost 37 laps – around the Edmonsdscote track, with Brown second on 14,702m for first male veteran.

Leamington C&AC’s Paul Okey was third on 14,461m, with clubmate Natalie Bhangal completing 14,252m for first female and fourth overall.

Massey Ferguson’s Sheila Johnson broke the British age record for 59-year-olds with a total of 10,899m, while 82-year-old Bob Emmerson racked up a Leamington C&AC age record after achieving 7,143m.