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World Masters Championships - Tampere, Finland

Tuesday 19th July 2022

Phoenix athletes Steve Atkinson, Phil Grabsky, Barry Blackwell, Adrian Haines travelled to the World Masters Championships in Finland with realistic hopes of appearances in a final or two and with a following wind, maybe a medal. Mention should be made of the Phoenix Masters squad coaches, Malcolm Kemp and Dan Maskell who prepared the team for their trip to Finland. Here are Phil & Steve's accounts of their trip plus their results.

Phil Grabsky's report

What a fantastic few days. I have been lucky enough to have taken part in Masters events
before – Malaga (World Champs) in 2018 and Venice (European Champs) in 2019 but, in
many ways, these were the first proper games I have participated in. I think that is because I
went for ten days and shared a lot of time with world class athletes from our Phoenix training
group – athletes, who in our age group (55-59) were genuinely challenging for medals against
the world’s best. Just to give you a sense of the level of competition, my 5000m race was
won in 16’29. Six runners from the Wednesday sprint group came to Finland – as well as
others who came to do the Half Marathon (and who did really well).
Tampere was the host city and lies more or less 2 hours north of the capital Helsinki.
Unsurprisingly, it sits on lakes, surrounded by forests and it took me a while to warm to it but
after a few days exploring (usually on short runs) I grew to like it. Our Air B&B was out of
town a little but a fantastic bus service (always bang on time) got us around with ease. The
stadium itself was right in the heart of the city and was a fine 12,000 seater with a good
running track. The weather was a touch too hot – around 30 degrees – and of course this far
north meant the days were very long. Eye masks were a must if you wanted to sleep!

29th June 2022 - 800M – semis.
02:24.97
24 th overall

This was my main focus. I only did the 800m in Venice in 2019 to add an event – but then
found I was quite good at it and since that time it has been my race length of choice. I am
never going to be competitive at 5000m for example where I have yet to break 19’ and the
races are being won in under 17’. But I felt, if I ran really well (and some others maybe
didn’t) I might get through the heats and qualify in the top 24 to go through to the semi finals.
Well, as it happened, there were a few drop outs and the organisers decided that our first race
would be called the ‘semi finals’ and there would be three races of around 12-13 runners
each. For various reasons, Barry, Adrian and Steve S didn’t make the start line for this one
so it was just Jonathan B, Steve A and me. Only 16 would qualify for the final. Steve A
managed OK. JB was just short of the 2:16.55 cut off. As for me, my aim when I run an
800m is to always break 2:30 (which, to put in context, is top 20 in the UK but a long way off
medalling).

In the build up to these champs I had basically done a 2:30, a 2:28 and then a few
days earlier a 2:26. My ambition for some time has been to ‘one day’ do a 2:25. My tactic in
this race was to go with the pack – and we went through the bell at 68/69 seconds – and then
hold on. I was cut adrift at about 500m when the front runners upped the pace and pushed on
and then I had to concentrate on running hard but efficiently for the final 300m. I felt pretty
strong to be honest (thanks to Malcolm & Dan’s Wednesday, Saturday and indeed Monday
sessions) but the last 100m were hard work, for sure. I tried hard to catch the American in
front but while my heart was willing, my legs were not. It is shocking how your body can get
so exhausted after only 120 seconds! Still, it is a memory I will treasure when I crossed the
line and Barry called out “2.24!!”. I’m still smiling now, many days later… My time would
have had me qualify for the semis too if they had run heats and then the top 24 went through
to 2 semis of 12 as we had expected. Mind you, it only needed Adrian, Barry or Steve S to
have run and I’d have been 25th …

Steve A went on to run a superb final but got shoved about a bit and then boxed in on the
final corner. He came a very creditable 6th.

2 nd July 2022 – 5000m – B race
19:25.40
22nd overall
Ah, yes, the 5000m. Well, I decided that if I was coming to Finland for 10 days then I might
as well run 3 events – and that included the 5000m. I am far from being competitive at that
distance so I was doing it, as ever for fun, and also to see if I could beat 19:22 (my pb). This
event was held in another part of Tampere – a university track at a place called Hervanta.
The temperature was still around 30 degrees which is much more of a factor in a 5000m than
a 800m. I also felt a bit sluggish in the warm up (on paths in the local woods) but spurred on
by fellow sprint runners who had come out to cheer me on, I made my way to the start line.

My race plan was simple – let the guys who race this in 17-18’ go past me at the start and just
concentrate on trying to run 3:48’ pace all the way to a 18’59 joyful pb. I was in position 1
(thus on lane 1) and at the gun I started quite quickly I guess because the plan I had vowed to
myself to stick to went straight out of the window. I found myself at the front, on my own,
doing 3’38 pace. Where was everyone else? Had it been a false start? I shouted to my
buddies as I came past: ‘where is everyone?’ – They replied “20 metres behind you!’. I did
the first mile in 5’57 – 4 laps on my own (in the lead which is a new experience!) then 3 guys
(smarter than me) came by as a group so fast I couldn’t latch on to them. From that point on it
is a question of trying not to slow too much!..So much for a steady 3’48 pace! I held on as best I could and crossed the line in 19:25. Still a track 5000m pb by some 20 seconds so can’t complain.

5th July 2022 – 1500m – semis
05:03.01
29 th overall
Again, just running for fun and a PB really. Previous PB was 5:08 so anything towards 5’
would be nice. Three heats – Barry in the first, Adrian and Jonathan in the second and Steve
A and me in the third.

Barry ran a brilliant sub 5’ – and Adrian and JB also ran super-well.
Jonathan had a PB and was just a second short of qualifying. In our heat, Steve was
comfortable in qualifying. Adrian and he went on to run a super 1500m and come in 4th and
6th in the Final .

For my part I wasn't really sure how to run a 1500m so was trying to do a 60 second
300m then 80 second laps (of which if course there would be three) but the track clock was
useless to me (and I didn’t know to look at the big screen above the stands which had a
running clock) but I tucked in behind someone I thought & hoped was going to run 5minutes.

Lap 1 actually ended up as 59 and lap 2 bang on 80 but on lap 3, I sensed the guy I was following had
slowed but I was too hestitant to overtake until the bell. So lap 3 was 83 seconds. Lap 4 I
worked hard to get back to a 80-81. Anyway, overall, very happy with a 5:03. Not sure I
have had a 86% age grading before. (0% next year for usre!

Steve Atkinson's notes

Ah yes, Adrian Haines & I ran the 4 x 400m relay final.

We were competing in the 1,500m finals when the team GB selection was made, and 2 sprinters present at the meeting put themselves on 1st and last legs. Adrian was given 2nd leg and I was given 3rd, which shouldn't matter too much, but we both thought that having an 800m runner on the last leg might have been wise because we don't tend to fade as much. Well, at least that's what we like to tell people! 

Everyone in the team did extremely well and ran to their absolute max. With just 200m to go, we had a strong chance of a bronze medal. Alas, a French athlete fought hard to fend off our athlete's attack around the final bend, and our team mate had gone a bit too deep and hit the dreaded lactate wall in the last 100m. We finished a creditable 4th place behind USA, Finland and France, with Adrian and I running team GB's fastest legs in 59sec and 57secs respectively. Not too shabby for a pair of 55 year old middle distance blokes. 

This wrapped up the championships for our Phoenix middle distance masters group, who achieved 2 x 4th and 2 x 6th places in the finals. Close, but no medals. I had an injury dogged build-up to these championships, and will hopefully go into the World Masters Indoor Championship in Toruń in March 2023 better prepared to compete with the best in the world. 

Phoenix has world class coaches to help us all reach our potential, irrespective of our age. Our middle distance masters group trains at Withdean on Wednesdays at 6:30pm and Saturdays at 10:30am. Come along and get involved and, who knows, you might find you're better suited to racing middle distance than marathon. And once you start you'll be hooked, because nothing matches the experience of competing in athletic's blue riband track events. Just ask Steve Ovett

800m results 

Semi-Finals

1. #2538: Andrew Ridley2.11,87    
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

2 
#266: Jim Dyck
2.12,00    
Canada 

3 
#2937: Francesco D Agostino
2.12,17 Q   
 Italy 

4 
#551: Margus Kirt
2.12,29    
Estonia 

5 
#4108: Sören Persson
2.12,48    
Sweden 

6 
#2280: Steve Atkinson
2.12,59    
Brighton Phoenix, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

7 
#3873: José Antonio Mayoral Llorente
2.12,61   
Spain

8 
#4105: Mats Olsson
2.13,22    
Sweden 

9 
#3888: Gabino Ortiz Martinez
2.13,50    
Spain 

10 
#281: Benoit Hogue
2.13,51   
Canada

 11 
#3324: Carel Claassen
2.13,51   
Netherlands 

12 

#2243: Martin Wams
2.14,33   
Germany 

13 
#4411: Alejandro Heuck
2.15,25   
United States of America

 14 
#3361: Marc van Gils
2.15,68 Q   
Netherlands 

15 
#309: Michael Sherar
2.16,26 Q   
Canada 

16 
#307: Simon Rayner - Ex UK
2.16,55   
Canada 

17 
#4432: Steven Kast
2.17,82   
United States of America 

18 
#3354: Jacobus Van Avendonk
2.18,41   
Netherlands 

19 
#494: Michael Pilegaard Hansen
2.18,66   
Denmark 

20 
#2314: Jonathan Burrell
2.19,44   
Great Britain and Northern Ireland

21 
#3525: Jacek Nowakowski
2.20,12   
Poland

 22 
#2893: Gabriele Agati
2.22,86   
Italy 

23

#301: Paul Osland
2.23,17   
 Canada 

24 
#2405: Phil Grabsky
2.24,97   
Brighton Phoenix, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

25 
#2595: Colin Williams
2.27,78   
Great Britain and Northern Ireland

 26 
#3411: Frank Lauritz Jensen
2.35,70   
Norway

 27 
#933: Sampo Kelhä
2.36,01   
Finland 

28 
#2349: Brett Davis
2.39,68   
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

29 
#666: Matti Borg
2.41,12   
Finland 

30 
#2813: Fergal Dunne
2.44,64   
 Ireland

31 
#4016: Olav Bäckström
2.46,80   
Sweden

32 
#3925: Antonio Rodriguez Gonzalez
2.49,35   
Spain 

33 
#2539: Alan Roberts
2.52,24   
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

34 
#2749: Nageen Singh
3.03,27   
 India

35 
#2756: Balwinder Singh Sidhu
3.05,28   
 India 

36 
#2715: Randheer Kumar Kilaru
3.19,35   
 India 

 800m - THE FINAL:
1 
#3361: Marc van Gils
2.06,71   
Netherlands 

2 
#2538: Andrew Ridley
2.07,30   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

3 
#551: Margus Kirt
2.08,03   
Estonia

4 
#3873: José Antonio Mayoral Llorente
2.08,60   
Spain

 5 
#266: Jim Dyck
2.09,41   
Canada 

6 
#2280: Stephen Atkinson
2.09,99   
Brighton Phoenix,  Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

7

#4108: Sören Persson
2.10,43   
Sweden 

8 
#2937: Francesco D'Agostino
2.10,46

Italy 

9 
#4105: Mats Olsson
2.11,14   
Sweden 

10 
#309: Michael Sherar
2.12,57   
Canada 

11 
#281: Benoit Hogue
2.12,67   
Canada 

12 
#3888: Gabino Ortiz Martinez
2.13,40   

Spain

5000m

1 
#3576: Joaquim Figueiredo
16.29,31   
 Portugal 

2 
#2911: Mauro Biglione
16.42,84   
 Italy 

3 
#2534: Ben Reynolds
16.44,75   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

4 
#3794: Ferran De Torres Burgos
16.48,20   
 Spain 

5 
#3426: Jon Per Nygaard
16.57,74   
 Norway 

6 
#798: Veijo Honkaniemi
17.02,83   
 Finland 

7 

#4596: David White
17.07,52   
 United States of America 

8 
#1769: Marc Aubron
17.09,22   
 France 

9 
#4173: Hansjörg Brücker
17.17,95   
 Switzerland 

10 
#3443: Torstein Svendsen
17.27,30   
 Norway 

11 
#4108: Sören Persson
17.30,06   
 Sweden 

12 
#4309: Francis Burdett
18.02,38   
 United States of America 

13 
#1816: Alain Durand
18.22,28   
 France 

14 
#804: Ilpo Huolman
18.25,57   
 Finland 

15 
#1090: Hannu Laurila
18.30,86   
 Finland 

16 
#4358: Dale Flanders
18.32,99   
 United States of America 

17 
#307: Simon Rayner
18.43,61   
 Canada 

18 
#2170: Markus Riefer
18.51,16   

Germany 

19 
#3790: Juan Pedro Crescenti
18.58,29   
 Spain 

20 
#2940: Paolo De Col
19.07,43   
 Italy 

21 
#2474: Geoff Lowry
19.23,69   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

22 
#2405: Phil Grabsky
19.25,49   
 Brighton Phoenix, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

23 
#2197: Winfried Schumann
19.33,45   
 Germany 

24 
#4125: Dan Erik Johan Skäringer
19.56,63   
 Sweden 

25 
#2172: Robert Rohregger
21.31,27   
Germany 

26 
#1323: Jari Pekonen
21.57,02   
 Finland 

27 
#501: Heino Wohlert Johansen
22.08,14   
Denmark 

28 
#2539: Alan Roberts
22.26,49   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

29 
#2749: Nageen Singh

23.09,85   
 India 

30 
#2813: Fergal Dunne
23.42,53   
 Ireland

1500m

1 
#3943: Juan Sempere Ruiz
4.33,33 Q   
 Spain 

2 
#4596: David White
4.34,64 Q   
 United States of America 

3 
#551: Margus Kirt
4.36,16 Q   
 Estonia 

4 
#307: Simon Rayner
4.36,29 q   
 Canada 

5 
#2280: Stephen Atkinson
4.36,93 Q   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

6 
#2538: Andrew Ridley
4.37,31 Q   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

7 
#266: Jim Dyck
4.37,38 Q    
Canada 

8 
#281: Benoit Hogue
4.37,38 q   
 Canada 

9 
#2849: Patrick Malone
4.37,75 q   
 Ireland 

10 
#4411: Alejandro Heuck
4.37,88 q   
 United States of America 

11 
#3443: Torstein Svendsen
4.38,45 q   
 Norway 

12 
#2412: Adrian Haines
4.39,08 q   
Brighton Phoenix, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

13 
#3910: Juan Prieto Martin
4.39,53 q   
 Spain 

14 
#4105: Mats Olsson
4.40,32 q   
 Sweden 

15 
#3426: Jon Per Nygaard
4.41,51 q   
 Norway 

16 
#804: Ilpo Huolman
4.41,59 q   
 Finland 

17 
#2407: Jonathan Grainger
4.42,17   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

18 
#2314: Jonathan Burrell
4.43,06   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

19 
#4432: Steven Kast
4.44,16   
 United States of America 

20 
#2243: Martin Wams
4:44,51   
Germany 

21 
#1816: Alain Durand
4.45,62   
 France 

22 

#2336: Neill Cookson
4.45,71   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

23 
#3525: Jacek Nowakowski
4.46,87   
 Poland 

24 
#755: Esko Heinola
4.48,17   
 Finland 

25 
#4309: Francis Burdett
4.48,53   
 United States of America 

26 
#641: Ari Ahtiainen
4.51,67   
Finland 

27 
#2296: Barry Blackwell
4.57,55   
Brighton Phoenix, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

28 
#4358: Dale Flanders
5.00,86   
 United States of America 

29 
#2405: Phil Grabsky
5.03,01   
Brighton Phoenix, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

30 
#2681: Zsolt Zeller
5.06,97   
 Hungary 

31 
#371: Jose Antonio Wenzel
5.08,31   
 Chile 

32 
#2474: Geoff Lowry

5.09,33   
 Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

33 
#198: Eric Wozny
5.13,52   
 Belgium 

34 
#753: Juha Heininen
5.18,54   
 Finland 

35 
#2172: Robert Rohregger
5.51,52   
 Germany 

36 
#1323: Jari Pekonen
5.53,08   
 
Finland 
37 
#2539: Alan Roberts
5.58,13   
 
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 
38 
#2940: Paolo De Col
6.18,41   
 

THE FINAL:
1 
#2538: Andrew Ridley

4.20,52   
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

2 
#3943: Juan Sempere Ruiz
4.22,98   
Spain 

3 
#551: Margus Kirt
4.23,65   
Estonia 

4 
#2412: Adrian Haines
4.26,73   
Brighton Phoenix,  Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

5 
#266: Jim Dyck
4.27,03   
 Canada 

6 
#2280: Stephen Atkinson
4.29,68   
Brighton Phoenix, Great Britain and Northern Ireland 

7 
#4596: David White
4.29,76   
 United States of America 

8 
#3910: Juan Prieto Martin
4.30,10   
 Spain 

9 
#3443: Torstein Svendsen
4.30,39   
 Norway 

10 
#4105: Mats Olsson
4.30,52   
 Sweden 

11 
#281: Benoit Hogue
4.30,62   

Canada 

12 
#307: Simon Rayner
4.31,86   
 Canada

13 
#4411: Alejandro Heuck
4.32,30   
 United States of America 

14 
#804: Ilpo Huolman
4.34,78   
 Finland 

15 
#3426: Jon Per Nygaard
4.35,14   
 Norway 

16 
#2849: Patrick Malone
4.36,61

Ireland