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World silver for Phil Grabsky

Sunday 13th April 2025

Two Phoenix athletes made their way to Florida for this major Masters event (over 35s athletes).

Phil Grabsky (a V60-64 age group runner) ran in the 800m & 1500m and threw in a 200m and 200m mixed relay too.

Adrian Haines – coming back from injury – ran in the 1500m.  

Phil managed a pb of 2’22.74 in the 800m (which is almost an age grading of 90%) and came 12th overall.  In the 1500m, he managed another pb of 5’01.40 and came 16th.  The 200m was just for fun but a sub 30 second run is fair.

The 200m mixed relay, he went one better with a sub 29 second run and won a team silver world medal !

Adrian (a V55-59 runner) wasn’t sure if he’d be able to compete at all but, with everything booked, he flew out anyway – not least to support both Phil and others such as Sarah Swift who, although officially a Poole Runner, is part of Malcolm Kemp’s Middle Distance training group on a Wednesday. But thanks to some excellent GB team physio work he did run in the 1500m and qualified for the final. But his calf prevented him from competing for medals as he normally does.  

The week was magnificent with almost 100 countries participating and the standard of athletics, at times, was staggeringly good. Anyone at Phoenix over 35 should consider Masters track & field competitions.