THREE of Ilford Athletics Club s Golden Oldies put in some excellent performances at the British Masters Track and Field Championships in Birmingham this weekend. Pam Jones, only days away from her 73rd birthday, clocked 25 minutes 8.8 seconds in again

THREE of Ilford Athletics Club's "Golden Oldies" put in some excellent performances at the British Masters Track and Field Championships in Birmingham this weekend.

Pam Jones, only days away from her 73rd birthday, clocked 25 minutes 8.8 seconds in again winning the W70 5,000m title in a mixed-age group race.

The race was notable for a world W60 record of 19.04.03 set by Angela Copson of MMAC, who has only been running for three years and just managed to hold off another 60-year-old, Jannette Stevenson of SVHC, who recorded 19.05.70.

John Batchelor (below) managed to regain his M65 5,000m title for the third time in four years.

In a race marked by the absence of most of the top M65s through injury, Batchelor led from the start but was closely chased by regular rival Gordon Orme of Birchfield until he shook him off at 4k and finished 25 seconds ahead in 19.15.69.

Iain Campbell was in action in the M45 5,000m and, starting conservatively, picked his way through the field to finish with the silver medal in his age group in 16.08.19.

The club also fielded five athletes in the second of the Epping Forest five-mile trail series of races hosted by Orion Harriers on a blisteringly hot Saturday morning.

Peter Spelman was best of the bunch with 40.27, just beatingVanessa Burns in 40.51. Gerry Trill in 41.20 was next home with Sally Gillam in 42.43 in close attendance.

Carol Muir returned to action after a short break with 53.48, while Robin Tuddenham of Serpentine was the overall winner in 29.17, with Clare Thurgood of the host club, first lady home in 33.29.

The following day, Abdi Berleen was in action at the Rhys Daniels five-mile race in Epping, where he performed exceptionally well to finish in second place with a time of 30.37.