British & Irish Masters (International Qualification Race) result and report by Fiona JeffriesSteel City Striders Running Club Sheffield

Race Date: Saturday 28th September 2024

Fresh back from Gothenburg, Sweden competing at the World Masters Championships Dot and I then looked forward to the cross country qualifier to compete at the British and Irish international masters in Belfast in November.

For me this was more daunting as the only thing to qualify for World Masters is to be over 35 and hold a British passport. But for the cross country, to guarantee selection in the England team, you need to finish in the top 3 in each age group in the qualifying race (plus 3 or 4 reserves).

Our qualifying race included athletes from Yorkshire, The Midlands and as far south as Bristol. The qualifier has been held in Derby (Markeaton Park) the last couple of years but this year it was in Crewe at Betley Farm. Dot and I drove over on the last Saturday in September, a beautiful sunny country drive. Very picturesque. It took us just under 2 hours.

We arrived at the farm and parking was a field next to all the tents and the start line so no need for a baggage tent. A lot of clubs had their own tents but as it was only 2 of us from Sheffield we just used the car. The local league XC races were being held that day too, starting with juniors and working up the age groups.

Once we had our numbers pinned on front and back (the number on your back is your age group so makes it easy to know who your rivals are) we did a recce of the course. It was undulating, mainly long grass with lots of cow pats and some gravelly track with grass down the middle. The women did just shy of 5k which was a half lap followed by a big lap. It was well marshalled and had tape everywhere so no chance of going wrong. The men did the same plus an extra of the big laps.

We set off at 1.30pm after a short briefing. I got myself to the front line and managed a good start which was slightly downhill. I saw 3 V55s go past me but didn’t let that put me off, just said to myself they’ve gone off too fast and I’ll catch them. I knew I needed to be top 3 to be in with a chance and wasn’t sure if there were any others ahead of me that I hadn’t seen. I gave it everything (probably tried harder than any other race) and got behind a V55 going uphill and let her pull me up before accelerating and overtaking then focusing on staying ahead. Push on and dig deep. The race finished and I couldn’t really tell what position I was as there were so many people milling about. Dot finished and had run well. There were 3 V70’s so she knew she was going to Belfast. Dot came in 2nd, not far behind the 1st V70

There were chunterings of going to Belfast among those who had finished but I felt sure I probably wouldn’t be going. Someone told us we could get a printout of our results (all very efficient) I asked for mine and could not believe it said 3rd. I asked the poor girl to check as I didn’t believe it! Gave a jump for joy and didn’t stop grinning all the way home.

Dot and I will represent England in the middle of November and wear our vests with pride. It would be amazing to see more striders next year as it really is good fun. It’s more than likely going to be in Crewe again at end September.