Vale’s Alan Roberts travelled to Nice in October to compete for GB in the European Masters Games, a multisport event covering 27 different sports. Alan was hopeful for good weather, but unfortunately arrived in torrential storms on the Côte d’Azur region which eventually caused the cancellation of the Triathlon event, due to the death of 20 people along the French Riviera. Alan considers himself lucky to have got away with having to wade from a flooded restaurant to his hotel without any power as having got away lightly on the worst night of the storms!
His first over 50’s event, the 5k, was squeezed into a short dry spell between torrential downpours where he finished just outside the medals in 4thplace. His best time of the season would have seen him medal in the event, but he was happy with his performance. Unfortunately the next event was the 800m which is almost a sprint for Alan who is used to far longer distances. Despite a good first 400m he faded to finish 10th.
The 3k Steeplechase final followed, his first “steeple” since these Championships 4 years ago in Italy. Alan said, “to my surprise I took a minute of my best time since turning a veteran over 40, and set an over 50 club record of 13.31.20 in the process to win my first ever individual bronze medal in 11 years of international competition.”
Over the two weeks the weather improved and later events were run in 21 degree heat. Alan finished 8th in the 1500m final and his last event, the half marathon, was another frustrating near miss for him finishing in 4th place.
Alan has had a very good year in Masters Competition – how does he view the year; “My year has ended with my biggest haul of medals running for the GB Masters team with 5 bronze medals this year – that could have been 7 in Nice if I had run as well as I had earlier in the season, but I’m not going to get greedy though! “