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Elms clocks 5:18.97 in the W60 age group while Garnier runs 6:33.46 as a W70 in Wimbledon
In near perfect conditions at the well-organised Dave Clarke Mile at Wimbledon on Wednesday (July 23), Clare Elms set a ground-breaking W60 world masters mile record taking over six seconds off of her previous record while there was a surprise W70 world record for Anna Garnier, Steve Smythe reports.
There is a potential third world mark for M60 Andrew Ridley at 1500m while Pete Giles set UK M80 1500m and mile marks just behind Garnier.
Elms went into the race having set British age-group records at 5000m (18:11.08) and 3000m (10:31.73) in previous weeks in July.
This time she was chasing her world mark of 5:25.19 set last August at Tooting having run a record 5:26.13 in this meeting a year ago.
Britain’s most prolific record-setter went into the race already holding 11 different UK age-group mile records outdoors, indoors and on the road in the W45 to W60 age-groups.
Following top M55 Terry Booth, she reeled off each quarter-mile just inside 80 seconds reaching halfway in 2:39.
With great encouragement from the announcer and the crowd, she kept the pace going over the second half and passed 1500m (4:57.80) within a second of her own world record. She then finished strongly down the straight to record a time of 5:18.97 to become the first W60 to ever break 5:20 or 5:25.
No other W60 worldwide has so far run faster than 5:28 outdoors or 5:27 indoors.
Of British middle-distance masters record marks only Anthony Whiteman’s 1:49.86 800m at the age of 45 has a higher age-grading than Elms’ mile time at 61.
It picks up 99.62% on the revised age-grading having picked up an unprecedented 108.96% on the Power of 10 age-grading.
While Elms has set well over 50 British or world marks over the last 16 years, Garnier set her first.
The 2022 World Masters 1500m champion was in a race paced by meeting director Ben Noad and primarily set up for M80 and Hercules Wimbledon athlete Peter Giles and she hung on and eventually led home the more experienced runner.
She had no idea what the world record was (USA’s Sharon Gerl’s 6:38.30) and followed Noad’s 6:40 pace with Giles targeting Victor Shirley’s 6:43.36.
Short of recent training, Giles struggled on the final lap but Garnier pushed on well and her time of 6:33.46 took nearly five seconds off of the American’s mark.
Ros Tabor, who held the previous British W70 record of 6:48.50, was one of the track judges on the night.
Giles ran a time of 6:38.93 to take four seconds off of the UK mark and his 1500m time (6:12.83) took seven seconds off of the previous UK mark also held by Shirley.
There was one other record attempt with M60 record-breakers and friends Andrew Ridley and Rob McHarg resuming battle.
In an indoor mile at Lee Valley in February, McHarg had set a world M60 indoor mile record for it to be broken in the very next race by Ridley.
McHarg then set a world indoor M60 record at 1500m at the British Champs after Ridley had set a storming pace.
Last year Ridley set a still-standing outdoor mile mark of 4:41.81 at Guildford.
At halfway Ridley was on schedule for the mile mark but short of fitness after injury, he faded on the final lap. His time of 4:44.34 was two seconds down on his record.
However, on checking the photo finish on the bend, he was found to have passed 1500m in 4:23.14 which is quicker than his UK record of 4:24.23 set when he won the world title in Gothenburg last year but also more importantly American Nolan Shaheed’s 4:24.00 set in 2011.
It is unclear yet whether this can count as a world record despite the photo finish there.
Clearly Ridley particularly faded after 1500m as though he was overall 30 seconds quicker than fellow V60 Elms, she was the faster between 1500m and mile.
McHarg had to drop out at halfway with Achilles problems.
While masters set the records, there was still a competitive senior men’s race with 3:39.19 1500m performer Jeremy Dempsey on pace for sub-four minutes until the last 200m.
The English National seventh-placer this year ran a time of 4:01.44.
The event organised by Hercules Wimbledon in the name of one of their most famous athletes Dave Clarke – the multi English National champion and 3:56.95 miler – provided the fastest woman as well as some of the record breakers.
Isabella Harrison, the South of England under-17 3000m champion, ran a PB 4:49.87 to go top of the UK under-17 age group rankings.
Fellow Hercules athlete and South of England 3000m winner Theo Creed now tops the UK under-15 rankings with his 4:23.09 which moves him to fourth all-time in his age group.