VETERAN Warrington Athletics Club runner Steve Watmough showed in successive days his versatility on different terrains at a high level.

On Saturday his third-place finish in the masters over 60s age group in the North Midlands Cross Country League meeting at Markeaton Park, Derby, earned him selection for the British and Irish Cross Country International at Tollcross Park, Glasgow, on November 11.

The event also featured the England Masters Cross Country Selection Race, but Watmough had already booked his ticket for the England team at the Birmingham 10K next year thanks to his efforts in winning the over 60s section of the Knutsford 10K earlier this month.

Despite Saturday’s exertions, Watmough swapped grass for tarmac the next day and finished second in the over 60s age group of the Manchester Half Marathon, a race he was using as a training run in preparation for the Valencia Marathon on December 3.

Watmough only started taking competitive running seriously at over 40s level.

And now his career highlights include winning his age group at the London Marathon in 2019 with a time of 2:40.39 and the International Cross Country event as an over 60s runner.

Clubmate Dave Gill, a former tug o’ war world champion, is another master athlete who continues to achieve great things.

At the weekend he took on the Holmfirth 10K, incorporating the British Masters Championships for the distance, and won the over 65s age group gold medal.

He also recently secured gold in the age-graded men’s championship of the Cheshire County Athletics 2023 Grand Prix Race Series Age grading is a score for an athlete based on their time compared to the current world record for their age.

The series consisted of the best five results from eight races over a series of distances at events ranging from 5k to half marathon throughout Cheshire from April to October.

In the overall men’s Grand Prix series Gill finished in 15th, while clubmates Daniel Schofield and Mervyn Ward finished 92nd and joint 158th equal respectively. Georgina Walker was fifth in the overall women’s Grand Prix, Louise Blizzard was 18th and Faith Roberts 26th.

Blizzard and Walker also featured on Sunday in the Yorkshire Marathon, incorporating the British Police Championships, starting and finishing at the University of York.

Blizzard was 505th overall, placing her 41st woman, seventh over 45 woman and sealing the bronze medal in the Police Championships.

Walker, competing under her first-claim club Lymm Runners, finished 887th, placing her 80th woman and 15th over 45 woman.

Warrington AC’s Jack Pilkington was 46th as he knocked over 13mins 30secs off his personal best time to place fourth in the Police Championships.