Memoirs of a World Champion:

‘Watch out for the heat, Spain in August, you must be mad’; that appeared the warning coming from all quarters prior to the opening events of the World Masters Athletic Championships in San Sebastian. 

So lining up for the 8k cross country event on the 23^rd at the Lacroste Hipperdrome in 17 degrees, after 3 hours of the most severest of rain was not what was expected!!!  4 laps of a rutted horseracing course, which was now a combination of thick grass, mud and surplus water was going to make for an energy-sapping ordeal.  We had been to the course the previous day to check out the location and terrain and decide on footwear, I had a jog around the course for a couple of laps. I felt nervous and a bit concerned with the ruts where the horse’s hooves had been. 

Nathalie Loubelle of Belgium was the pre race favourite and proved her class by running away from the field in convincing fashion. Having already beaten me twice in the last 2 years at the Interland meetings over 5000 metres, I was always expecting her to be favourite for a hat trick of gold medals, unfortunately for me she was also competing in the 5,000m and 10,000m as well.

The race itself was run in conjunction with the W40’s and initially a group of eight athletes broke away, 5 of which were from my age category.  Sharon Coyne (W40) was the only other British athlete in the group.  Having been beaten on our previous 2 meetings running for England I was hoping to gain some reward by beating her.  By the end of the first lap Loubelle was away and Coyne had slipped off the back of the group.  There was now four of us fighting for silver and bronze.  200 metres into the final lap the Spaniard and the Italian passed Teresa Nunes of Portugal into the medal positions; I followed but couldn’t keep with the pair of them.  Nunes then hung on to me and went past in the final kilometre, leaving me in a lonely fifth. The only consolation was being first Britain and a victory over Coyne.

1^st: Nathalie Loubelle – Belgium 30.03

2^nd:Nieves Zarza Martinez – Spain 30.32

3^rd: Lorella Pagliacci – Italy 30.36

5^th:Nicki Nealon – Great Britain 31.01

The 5000 metres was to follow set to be run at 9.15 p.m. on the 25^th. Having never run at that time of night before proper preparation was essential, an early morning run to relieve the stiffness in the legs after the cross country.  Still a slight question mark over whether I have recovered enough to compete.  An afternoon sleep, rearranged eating times, Nick sorting out departure times and route to the stadium.

We were based in Biarritz (France), mainly due to cost, but also to keep more relaxed and away from the pressures of being in San Sebastian.

The evening turned out mild with the threat of more rain.  Forty minutes before the off I had to go to the call centre, register and wait to be escorted to the stadium.  Whilst the athletes had use of the indoor track facilities to warm up, the rain had started outside with a vengeance.  The track was waterlogged but at least the rain had eased somewhat.

The line up produced a number of new faces from the cross country and after a couple of 85 sec laps of which nobody wanted to set the pace, the Irish athlete Annette Kealy took up the pace and opened up an immediate gap.  That left 8 of us still tightly bunched and unsure what to do.  I felt o.k. in the group and was keeping an eye on Loubelle.  At the start of lap 5 Joanne King went to the front of the chasing group and immediately put in an 82 sec lap.  The gap started to close to the Irish athlete, but by the end of lap 7 King had got clear space from the Spaniard Martinez, Loubelle, myself and the Italian Pagliacci.  The others were now a spent force.  Coming into the finishing straight with one lap to go King caught Keely and immediately went past just as the bell sounded.  At this point Martinez was clear in third and I was on the shoulder of Loubelle with Pagliacci a few seconds adrift.

Into the home straight King led by 10 metres and gradually eased down as she approached the line, unbeknown to her Keely was sprinting and right on the line surprised King as both athletes crossed the finish together.  Martinez finished a comfortable third, whilst I overtook Loubelle in the back straight to move into fourth only for her to shoot right by again in the home straight. I then managed to hold off the fast finishing Italian.

1^st:Annette Kealy – Ireland 17.12.21

2^nd:Joanne King – Great Britain 17.12.25

3^rd:Nieves Zarza Martinez – Spain 17.20.59

5^th:Nicki Nealon – Great Britain 17.30.55

Only the 10,000 metres to go, would I get a medal or at least a p.b.  Nick had felt this was my best chance as training results had shown greater strength and a maintained pace towards the longer distance.  Checking the declared field showed that three of the medallist’s above were running along with a group of Spanish athletes who had not notified a time for the season but from reports 2 of these had quicker road times than myself.  Therefore sixth on paper! Not good enough, tactics had to change.

After discussions with Nick, I was not able to run my race; I had to run the race of the third person.  This meant that whatever the person in third did I had to follow, if it was too much then so be it, I had nothing to lose.

The race started with an unknown Venezuelan setting the pace with Nathalie Loubelle, the Belgium favourite, following in close attendance. Then followed a group of 7 of us, bumping and barging as everyone tried to get in position behind Joanne King who led this group.  The Venezuelan soon died and her moment of glory was finished.  Loubelle now took things on alone and the gap kept increasing.  Behind the group were down to 5 with King leading, the Italian, Lorella Pagliacci, myself, Sue Ridley of Britain and Donato Alicia Olazabal of Spain.

From lap 8 the gap stopped and remained constant at about 50 metres, then from lap 10 the gap started to close as King increased the tempo and with it Ridley and Olazabal went out the ‘back door’ as the expression goes.  Now there were 4 of us, the other three had all beaten me in the Championships so far. As we approached the end of lap 15 we had caught Loubelle and for the next 5 laps trailed her with me moving into third. During this period the Italian was finding the pace difficult to hold and a gap started to appear.  I was in a medal position! But I was also suffering at this point; I knew I had to hang on and as the gap to the Italian kept increasing my confidence was starting to rise.

With 10 laps to go Loubelle appeared to be faltering and King moved to take up the pace, I felt better now and confident I had a medal, so followed. The next 5 laps were churned out at 87 secs and we dropped the Belgium, I heard Nick shout from the stand that we were clear and hesitantly glanced back to see Loubelle falling further behind.  ‘Yes I thought to myself, I’ve got nothing to lose now.’

At the end of the 20^th lap Nick again called for me to take it on, knowing King’s 1500m speed, I couldn’t leave it to the last lap.  So I moved in front, this was now a race for Gold, this is what I enjoy, leading from the front and pilling on the pressure.  Another 2 laps at 87 secs, the humidity and heat could now be felt, after lapping the tailenders for the third time I heard Nick shout a gap was appearing, coming to the line with 2 laps to go I had to push it harder. An 84 secs lap got me a 5-metre gap, then the bell, the crowd was screaming but I could still make out Nick and the kids, instructions to put head down and go for it.  Coming into the finish straight I felt I was clear but I just kept pushing until I was well past the line.  ‘Yes’ was all I could shout.  A p.b. by over a minute and yes World Champion, who cares if it’s only the Masters, it felt incredible.

Having recovered to an extent, I sat on the ground and watched Loubelle finish, a minute behind, revenge was sweet.

1^st:Nicki Nealon – Great Britain 35.45.54 WORLD MASTERS CHAMPION

2^nd:Joanne King – Great Britain 36.00.46

3^rd:Lorella Pagliacci – Italy 36.32.45