THE end of season Midland Masters Cup final at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium saw members Bromsgrove and Redditch Athletics Club’s masters team in action against some of the region’s top athletes.

Phil Anderson opened the event with the hammer throw and went on to compete in the shot putt, discus and javelin, as well as the individual 400m and two relay races.

Season debuts were made by Dave Cleverley in the 800m, 3000m, 200m, two relays and the high jump, Mike Neylon in the 800m, 100m and the 4 x 100m relay, and Rob Mole.

Mole competed in the M35 1500m and 200m as well as the 2km walk, setting new club records in the three events Calvin Scoltock ran an excellent race in the M35 800m, leading for most of the two laps before being edged out to second place in the final straight, setting a new club record in the process.

Clive Brown and Len Quartly also performed well.

Brown competed in the 3000m and the triple jump, while Quartly, despite injuries, gained valuable points in the 400m, 100m, 1500m and the long jump.

Mike Jones threw well in the javelin and shot and set a new club record in the discus to gain the most individual points for the club on the day.

Dave Carney found time away from his track judge duties to compete in the 2km walk and set an M70 club record.

The last event of the day for the men was the 4 x 400m relay.

Despite having to retrieve a dropped baton, the team finished the race to earn valuable team points.

For the women’s team, Melanie Hepke, Yasmine Al Daftary and Jayne Parsons all gained valuable points in the sprints with Polly Gerner winning the W50 200m.

Dagmar Prinzing and Rita Brownlie both ran well over two laps.

In the distance events Jane Anderson and Louise Laxton competed over 1500m and Melanie and Barbara Lewis ran the 3,000m.

Jeanette Malin (W45) and Yvonne Priestman (W60), who were both second in their events, set new club records in the 2km walks.

Julie Wakelam gained the most team points in the field events.

She was fourth in the W45 hammer. All of her other events were in the younger W35 age group, and she took second in the high jump, third in the javelin and gained much needed points in the long jump, triple jump, shot and discus.

Laxton was second in the W50 high jump and won the W50 shot setting a new club record.

Brownlie was second in the W50 javelin and took third place in the W50 discus.

Taking third in the W45 long jump was Polly Gerner.

A good team effort saw the baton safely round in both the 100m and 400m relays.

The ladies team finished a creditable fourth place out of the eight teams who contested the A final.