Mansfield Harrier Dan Nugent wins selection for England

The Telford 10k is one of the premier races of that distance in the country and this year incorporated the English road championship and a selection race for masters to run for England at the distance in 2022, writes Richard Massey.
Dan Nugent on his way to success in Telford.Dan Nugent on his way to success in Telford.
Dan Nugent on his way to success in Telford.

Mansfield Harrier Dan Nugent went into the race in great shape knowing that a strong run would give him a great chance to represent his country in the masters 45 age group next year. Nugent was to the fore within the age group throughout the race going through 5k in just under 16 minutes and a fierce second lap saw him finish in a time of 32.15 a full 63 second improvement on his previous best.

The results were chip timed so came out almost immediately and Nugent was rewarded with a 20 second win in the age group and therefore is now the latest member of the club to earn an England vest which is a fantastic reward for the hard training he has put in recently.

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Kristian Watson continued his momentous year and his recent form earned him a prestigious Midlands representative vest within the Telford race and again Watson put in an exceptional run recording 31.21. Jordan Boam had a breakthrough run at the event as he recorded a time of 34.22. Boam has put in some big sessions recently and was rewarded with a new best time by 2 minutes and 7 seconds. Completing the clubs’ athletes Gary Berzins put in another strong run to record 36.11.

Nine Mansfield athletes made the short journey to race the Bolsover 10K the same day with the highlight being Kirsty Huntington recording her best time for several years as she raced to an impressive 41.40. Vaughan Chamberlain was next home in 50.49 closely followed by Shaun Middleton in 50.58. Team manager Steve Davies recorded 55.08 followed by Tim Richardson 56.42, Maddy Collinge 56.43, Sue Lomas 59.04, Pete Copcutt 62.23, and Tina Copcutt 71.35.

Several of the club’s sprinters opened their winter season in style at the Northern Athletics Meeting at the English Institute of Sport at Sheffield. There were personal best performances in the 60 and 150 metre races from Under 13 Rhys Aplin 8.84/21.46 seconds, under 15’s Katie Biggs 8.67/21.29 and Ava Casterton 8.88/21/08 and Ava also surpassed her previous best in the Long Jump recording 4.24 metres.

The senior athletes were no less impressive with a heat win for Under 17 Rhys Elias who just missed his PB after a stumble at the start recording 7.39 and in the same age group Matthew Young recorded a near one second best of 7.69. 400 metre hurdler Jess Lake had a rare outing over the short sprint and achieved a new best performance with 8.39 seconds. Masters athletes and club coaches Donna Aplin and Martin White started their preparation for the British Masters Championship with encouraging sprints running 8.77 and 7.98 seconds respectively.

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Focus then moved onto the 300 metres with both Elias and Young again setting new PB’s of 37.30 and 38.14 with Jess Lake 43.39 running strongly to just miss out on another PB, showing her transition to university life and a new coach (former Harrier Martin Cook) is working well. Mansfield club coach Martin White produced a late surge in the senior 300 metres to clock 43.04 to move to 19th all time in the M50 rankings. Under 17 Dylan Emerson completed the line up with a fine performance in his debut at Long Jump for the club leaping out to 5.05 metres.

Mansfield Junior Sports Personality of the year and now Under 17 Serenity Joynt continued her remarkable year as she launched the Shot Put out to a massive 11.47 metres to comfortably take the win and in the 600 metres Ben Smith showed he was another who has transformed well to university life as he recorded a PB with a rapid time of 1.23.31.

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