RUGBY & Northampton Athletic Club veteran Angela Copson produced a sensational week of competition to become a quadruple European champion at the European Veterans Athletics Championships in Turkey.
The 67-year-old took victory in the W65 category in the 10,000m, 5,000m, 1,500m and 4x400m relay and followed that up with a silver medal in the W65 800m and a bronze in the W65 400m to cap a superb week of competition.
Copson triumphed in the 10,000m despite running her slowest time ever in the summer heat of Izmir. A run of 46.26.76 was enough for the multi-world-record-breaking athlete to win the race while conserving energy for events later in the week. The race also contained the W60 field, although Copson came out on top of that group too.
A time of 21:32.51 in the 5,000m saw Copson take victory by 32 seconds over her Dutch counterpart to continue her medal streak, while she stopped the clock at 5:44.40 in the 1,500m to win a third individual gold, beating Great Britain’s Ros Tabor by two-and-a-half seconds.
A fastest 400m for two years from Copson was not enough for the Rugby & Northampton athlete to add to her gold medal tally as she was beaten by by GB rivals Moria West (74.00) and Tabor (74.87), clocking 75.02 for her efforts.
Tabor, who ran a time of 2:49.54, pipped Copson (2:50.01) to the post in the 800m as the pair finished first and second respectively.
West, Copson, Tabor and Patricia Stanley teamed up in the W65 4x400m to beat Russia to the gold medal in a British record time of 5:52.74.
Rugby & Northampton’s John Moreland was also in the medals as he picked up silver in the M55 discus with a throw of 44.58m, beaten to the top spot by fellow GB athlete Bob Broadbridge.
Moreland followed that up with eighth in the heavyweight throw (14.43m), ninth in the hammer (40.38m) and tenth in the shot put (11.15m).
ELSEWHERE, R&N took a small team of athletes to the England Athletics Age Group Championships for under-15 and under-17 athletes last weekend, with a number of successes leaving the club full of confidence ahead of this weekend’s UK School Games and Youth Development League Finals.
Eleanor Broome went one better than at the English Schools Championships by taking silver in the under-17 women’s long jump thanks to a distance of 5.81m – close to her personal best. Tia Clues was a creditable tenth in the same competition with a jump of 4.99m.
Tom Jasper echoed his team-mate’s performance as he also stepped up from bronze at the English Schools to take second in the under-15 boys 300m in a time of 36.89, continuing what has been a fantastic season for the youngster.
Kiona McLennon finished fifth in the under-17 women’s shot put thanks to a throw of 12.42m, while other strong performances came from Aiden Leeson, who finished fourth in the under-15 boy’s 200m semi-final with a strong run of 23.79, and Brittany Wood in the under-17 women’s 80m hurdles, who was very close to her PB with a run of 12.45 in her heat.
The club will be hoping to continue their promising form at this weekend’s upper and lower age groups Youth Development League Finals. R&N are one of only two clubs in the UK to make both finals – alongside Blackheath & Bromley AC – and will battle it out against several composite clubs such as Team Edinburgh, Team Avon and Team Glasgow, who are made up of athletes from several clubs.
R&N also have several athletes competing at the UK School Games, who will travel back to compete for the club at the YDL Finals in Birmingham.
