Events master

CLARE ELMS HAD A RECORD-BREAKING AWARD-WINNING 2019 BUT STILL DID NOT ENJOY HER YEAR AS MUCH AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE

YOU WOULD have thought Clare Elms might have been rather proud of her performances in 2019. She was the biggest overall winner of any section (British masters female) in the AW Readers’ Choice Awards and won the BMAF British masters athlete of the year and the European Masters distance runner awards.

During the year she won four world indoor and six European outdoor masters titles and set over 20 world or UK records and achieved the unique feat of setting at least a national record or best every month of the year.

However, she explained: “I know I did well in some races but I competed far too much and felt under pressure to set a record in almost every race and felt I failed if I didn’t. I ran 80 races during the year and never got a break as there always seemed to be one more record to achieve, whether it was 800m or 10,000m.”

Yet the 56-year-old, who lives in Beckenham, Kent, is keen to stress that despite her negativity towards last year, just how much she enjoys her running and competing. “I love running and training and after the family it is the most important thing in my life. I really enjoy very hard track sessions, long runs and racing and I am so grateful that running has given me so much and I have made some great friends from all over the country.”

Her first try at running more than 40 years ago did not see her ultimately fulfil her undoubted potential. At the age of 12 she won the Croydon schools 200m title and she was talent-spotted but her mother suggested she should focus on school work and she thus missed out on running as an older junior and senior, where she would have surely made a mark and instead she focused on swimming in her early teenage years, reaching county level.