World Masters Athletics Championship Perth M55 10,000 1st 33:15

I was confident I could win so long as no last minute Kenyans came out of the woodwork! So the plan was to run it, the same as the last time, Hard lap, Float lap. Keep it going as long as possible, no particular goal times to achieve.
Conditions were warming up and still blustery for our race though the wind thankfully was calming down and nothing like the 5000m gale!
70/72 first lap!, a Masters World Championship race will give you a few seconds boost! Into my 'Float' and I didn't particularly slow down much, covering the 1st KM in 3;09.
From there it was pretty much a case of trying to keep the hard efforts to raise the tempo and the float laps honest.
I guessed I was clear but had no idea other than a vague inference from the announcer (who I only heard in the home straight).
There was a clock on the start finish line but I didn't fancy the mental arithmetic to work out my laps. There was another electronic board that scrolled the competitors names, order and laps to go or completed (not sure). I only looked at it once. I was aware that I'd covered 5200 a little faster than 3 weeks ago, and was later told I'd gone through 5000 in 16:25 which was motoring considering all the factors.
Edit; I actually went through 5000m in 16;16.
Inevitably in the second half I started to tire and slowed down. I think I went through the first 6km in 3:15 average and the last 4km in 3:25 average.
I was happy with 33:15, which ranks 11th all-time M55, though getting the bell in 32:00 and realizing back in 2011, Keith Bateman would have lapped me on his way to the WR 31:51 was a sobering thought.
I heard afterwards that I had lapped the field by lap 15 and was on the way to double lapping the field, winning by over two minutes.
I have five days to rest up before Sundays Half Marathon. Today I went for an easy 11km run along the Mara course with M55 5000m 2nd placer Alex Stienstra (Netherlands). A really nice guy with very quick 1500 and 5000 times this year 4:22 &16:02. Unfortunately injuries kept his training to a minimum these last few months, so he was ecstatic to win the Silver. I hope he gets a result in the 1500 though of course I want my Aussie mates to likewise.

World Masters Athletics Championship Perth M55 5000m 1st 16:43

Actually I had been dreaming of this race for 5 years since Perth were awarded the host city at the 2011 WMA Champs in Sacramento. When the day finally dawned I was still in doubt about my tactics for the race. The conditions though made that choice somewhat easier as a horrendous wind up the finishing straight meant attacking from the gun would be foolish, I'd bear the wind and Alex, Stuart and the others would have to chase. So the decision was to sit-in behind whoever wanted to lead and see how things would play out but with a vague idea I'd go from 3000.
So the first four laps were run at a dawdle. About 80 second laps or slower, the wind was a nightmare. Things were OK whilst a Columbian led with me trying to find the best position behind to shield, but when the others started to come around we all started to chop and push.
I had my heels clipped a few times and was this close to turning around and swearing but I only turned and did the glare!!

My thoughts now were someone is going to trip over and who knows what will happen then! So in an instant I decided to go for it and smashed out a fast lap. Afterwards Alex told me he instinctively went with me for 10m before he reconciled defeat to me and dropped back into the pack. I quickly built a lead to 100m and up to 150m by the last lap but was closed back down to 100m by the extremely fast finishing Alex (16:02 this year) and Stuart (16:27 this year Canadian M55 record holder). 

It was extremely hard work running up the finishing straight into that wind and I wrestled with the madness of my choice to break so early.
I was seriously happy to win because my race execution worked out beautifully. I really needed a large buffer to give the speed merchants no hope of catching me.

The win sets me up nicely for the 10,000m on Tuesday.

No new fresh runners to race, pretty much the same guys (not Alex or Stuart). 

If I respect the distance and the opposition I will be hard to beat.

World Masters Athletics Championships Perth 8km XC M55 1st

I arrived in Perth just after midnight on Tuesday morning and was fortunate enough to get picked up by my old mate Stuart Moore, from my Shaftesbury Harrier days. Stu kindly offered to put me up for the first few days at his family home in Floreat, a 1.8km jog from the start line for the Cross Country at Perry Lakes Reserve.
My plan was to go out hard and then ease back and not to race the M50's as I would be racing faster guys than me in the 5000m on Saturday that were not competing in the cross country.
At the gun, I got off ok and settled in behind M50's Anders Dahl and Bruce Graham. However, they seemed to be hammering it, so I was happy to let them gap me. Unusually for me, I looked at my first km split on the Garmin 3:13 ! Too fast. Bruce and Anders must have been 3:08. As I dropped back M50 Pommie Paul Thompson caught me and headed on. I managed to hold onto his coat tails as we began to haul back the leading two.
By the end of the second of four two km loops we had all come together and the four of us ran in a bunch. I sensed the pace had dropped off a little but was happy to have the respite.
I had mistaken the Swede for Gunnar X the guy who had finished second to David Heath in the World's 1500m at Lyon last year = a speed merchant! My thoughts were that he was just biding his time for a sprint finish that he would win.
Of course by this stage it was hard for me not to race or want to stay with these guys.
There was a good gap to the 5th place runner so I just had to maintain momentum to win my age cat. As we neared the finish I had no thoughts of competing in the sprint and didn't fully sense that Bruce had kicked and was gone. 
I was ahead of the Swede as we turned the corner for the final 100m and I thought it would be cool to get his scalp so I did give it some welly!
The route through to the finish line was pretty congested with lapped runners and I only noticed on the line that the 2nd placer Paul Thompson was just in front of me.
Of course I was chuffed to bits to win a Word Masters title! I had been dreaming of this moment for three years. I couldn't believe my luck to have Perth chosen as the venue and for the Championships to be staged just a month after I turned 55 to run youngest in age group.
Bruce missed out by two months so I was so pleased for him to win the M50's at age 54.9, after he won Bronze at Lyon. 
My category winning margin, at nearly two minutes, for a "World" title, puts a question mark on the status of these Championship's. There are better guys than me out there who chose not to, or could not afford, to compete. But it is what it is and I am proud to have a World Masters Championship crown on my palmares 😀
Now to take on the 5000m which is going to be competitive. Will it be tactical? will it be a slog fest? what tactics do I employ?
One things for sure I am just pleased to have made it to the start line in something like competitive shape. 
When I think back to the months off running with injury this year. The time spent on the bike, the early morning runs, the Sunday long runs around the arduous roads of Narangba, the first 'track' session this year on the school grass oval where I felt anything but a potential Masters World Champion. I am truly grateful to have pulled it off but none of it would have been possible without the love and understanding of my wife and family x