Alan Roberts and Trevor Lynch took part in international competitions over the Summer, with Alan competing in the World Masters Championships in Finland and Trevor taking part in the European Transplant & Dialysis Games in Oxford. Read on for more info…….
World Masters Championships, Tampere (Finland)
One of our long serving athletes, Alan Roberts, took part in the World Masters Athletics Championships in Tampere (Finland) at the end of June and early July.
In the two weeks or so that Alan was out there, he certainly made use of the time! He took part in no less than 6 championship races across various terrain and also had time to fit in a parkrun in the city for good measure!
Competing in the Vet 55 category, Alan started his campaign with an 800m, coming home in 7th place in his semi-final with a time of 2mins 52.24secs. The next day he made it round the Cross Country Championships course to finish 23rd.
After a day’s rest he was back on track to finish 12th in the B Final of the 5000m and followed this up three days later with a 13th place finish in his 1500m semi-final. That was his last race on the track in Tampere as his final three events consisted of a 10k road race in which he was 14th V55 finisher, a parkrun the day after and then finishing with a Half Marathon where he finished 18th in 1hour 46mins 13seconds.
Alan’s full results can be seen below:
29th JUNE
800m (Semi-final)
7th – 2mins 52.24secs
30th JUNE
Cross Country Championships (8km)
23rd – 34mins 34secs
2nd JULY
5000m (B Final)
12th – 22mins 26.49secs
5th JULY
1500m (Semi-final)
13th – 5mins 58.13secs
8th JULY
10k Road Race (Final)
104th – (14th V55) 46mins 23secs
10th JULY
Half Marathon
18th – 1hour 46mins 13secs
European Transplant & Dialysis Games, Radley College (Oxford)
At the tail end of August, Vale athlete Trevor Lynch made the short journey across to Oxford to take part in the European Transplant & Dialysis Games with the Athletics events taking place at Radley College.
For a bit of background on the event – The Games comprise a week of multi-sport competition amongst solid organ transplant recipients and kidney dialysis patients from over 25 countries across Europe (Trevor has received two bone marrow transplants to treat lymphoma). The event is similar to the Paralympics Games or Invictus Games, and had over 400 competitors attending in Oxford.
Trevor, competing for Ireland, performed brilliantly in the Vet50 category and he became a double European silver medallist! He competed in three events across the week and took silver in the 800m and 1500m and he was just outside of the medals in the 5k as he finished 4th.
Trevor’s endeavours helped his Ireland team to 6th in the medal table out of 26 countries.
Trevor said of his campaign, “I did much better than I expected, after being injured for much of the year! The thrill of competition encouraged me to push hard! But, more than anything, this event increases the profile of organ donation and how it can save lives”