Burnham-On-Sea veteran athlete Trevor Downward has represented the South West Veterans Athletics Club at the British Masters Inter Area Indoor Championships held at Lee Valley in north London.
Trevor, 70, competed in both the 60‑metre and 200‑metre events, despite carrying an injury picked up during training. He says the setback affected his performance on the day.
“It didn’t go as well as I hoped, time‑wise, due to me hurting my right quadriceps muscles,” he said. “I duly took a week’s course of Naproxen, and my wife Karen taped me up with Kinesiology Tape.”
Despite re‑pulling the muscle just 20 metres into the 60‑metre race, Trevor managed to coast through to a fifth‑place finish. Later that evening, he lined up for the 200 metres and, “maybe against common sense,” completed the race in sixth place.
His two results earned a total of nine points for the South West Veterans Athletics Club.
Trevor says he will now need at least a week or two to recuperate, but remains determined and upbeat, adding: “At 70 years old my Credo is ‘I’ll never be as strong or fast as I was but I need/want to be as strong and fast as I can be! My memories must never exceed my dreams!”
He hopes more local Masters athletes will consider joining the squad. “It would be absolutely wonderful if some other ‘new’ Masters came out of the woodwork and joined us,” he added.
Trevor is now aiming to qualify for the Outdoors Inter Area Championships, which will be held at Yate on 2nd August.
