HAVING already competed in both the 800m and the 5,000m finals at the World Masters Athletic Championships in Perth, Australia, Stratford Athletic Club’s Phil Brennan continued with five more races, including four finals.
Having originally intended to rest after a tough 5,000m race, Phil got “bored hanging around”, so three days later he was lining up in 30 degree temperatures in the M70 10,000m final.
Despite the conditions, he managed to finish in seventh place in a personal best time of 49.22.44.
This was a truly magnificent performance, especially considering he had already competed in three races in the previous five days.
Two days later he competed in the heats of the 1,500m, qualifying for the final in a season’s best time of five minutes, 57.38 seconds.
The next day, in the midday sun and with the temperature above 30 degrees, he ran in a fast 1,500m final won by Frenchman Jean-Claude Demarque in close to world record time.
Phil finished in a battling ninth place in a time of 5.59.87, a mere 2.5 seconds slower than the previous day’s heats.
The following day, after a restless night, he was up at 4.30am for his final day of competition, beginning with the final of the half marathon as part of a strong Great Britain team.
With the early start, he forgot both his hat and sunblock and suffered in the strong sun and high humidity.
However, he overcame these obstacles to win a team gold medal as part of a triumphant British squad.
His time of 1:53.50 helped Team GB beat their nearest rivals, the French, by a massive 20-minute margin.
If that was not enough, Phil then rounded off a busy and fantastic ten days by leading off in the M70 4x400m relay team which finished just outside the medals in fourth place.
Overall, Phil competed in a scarcely believable eight races in ten days, helping Team GB finish a magnificent third in the medal table behind hosts Australia and USA.
Report compiled by Peter Coote and David Jones.
