This years masters championships were held at the end of June in Bury with six Burnley athletes putting in quality performances.
Helen Goodwill ran her first sub 15.0 second 100m for almost three years as she lowered her own F45 club record to 14.9 secs. In what was a successful day for Helen she also broke the F45 Triple Jump record with a leap of 7.77m and put it two solid displays in the Hammer and Discus.
Helen has had some troublesome niggles in the past few months and appears to be finally rediscovering her form, the distances are sure to improve in the throws sooner rather than later.
Scott Gizon is hovering up the throwing records this year. ‘Giz’ is a natural thrower and a big asset to the club, he is starting to make a serious impression on the records board
He broke three M40 club records at Bury as he again raised his M40 Shot record to new heights with a throw of 11.41m, this saw him finish second overall in a very close competition. He also nearly added a metre to his existing M40 Discus record with a best throw of 31.06m, he even showed that in his least favourite event he can still make waves with an impressive 27.47m in the M40 Hammer.
Michael Williams again showed his versatility by competing in two contrasting events, his excellent run in the 400m Hurdles saw him breaking the long standing M35 record with a time of 67.8 secs. He was unable to lower his own 1500m record that was set a month earlier but that was mainly due to the blustery conditions, the time of 4m 52.5 secs was still an excellent effort in a evenly matched race. Michael will run any distance for the team and is a real team player.
Steve Goodwill has had a very frustrating season, his work in the winter period looked to have set him up for an excellent summer but a hamstring tear in early April has seen limited opportunities on the track as his rehab has taken longer than expected. This hasn’t stopped Steve competing for the team and his Long and Triple Jumps have benefited as a result.
He finished first overall in both jumps and his best effort of 10.55m in the Triple Jump increased his own M40 record as he closes in on the 11m mark, he also went beyond the 5m mark in the Long Jump with a best effort of 5.09m. Steve ran both the 200m and 400m as he dusted off the track spikes once more, the times were far from his best but coming away injury free was a massive bonus.
John Linaker continues to show there is still fire in his belly with a fantastic new M50 record in the 400m Hurdles, his winning time of 67.0 secs not only sets a very competitive club record but places John second in the country for his age, John is already talking about being number one!!
John also put in two decent efforts in the 200m and 400m as he looks to put down some solid markers for the younger guys to chase in future years. John is one of the hardest trainers at the club and he instils this work ethic into all the athletes he trains.
John Edwards not only smashed his existing M65 Hammer record but also broke new ground by becoming the first Burnley AC male hammer thrower to breach the 40m line in an event. His throw of 40.05m cemented his place as the number two M65 hammer thrower in the UK for 2019. John has been ranked inside the top ten for the Hammer in the UK for his age group in every year he has competed since 2005, that is a truly remarkable feat.
John has also been in excellent form in all the throws, the fact that he has had Scott and Ava to push him in training shows that these top performances will continue for some time yet. His two second place finishes in the Shot and Discus were superb as the standard of the competition was very high.
