In the second of our International Spotlights, we take a look at our older athletes ahead of the European Masters Athletics Championships.

Tamworth AC’s Adam Young and Ben Evans will be heading out to Venice this month to join up with a strong British Masters team. At 51 and 41, Young and Evans are still putting in performances that would look good in any age group; epitomising the high standard of competition in Masters athletics.

This week we talked to Adam about his recent international competitions, his medal successes and British records.

Go to any of Tamworth’s senior or veterans league matches and Adam Young can’t be missed. At 6’5” the multi-eventer’s name is all over the team sheet in an array of both track and field events. In the High Jump, his strongest event, Young has certainly made his mark on the international masters stage.

Rewind to March 2018 when Young took home his first international medal, claiming the M45 silver at the European Indoor Championships in Madrid with a jump of 1.78m. But this was merely a warmup for the highlight of his career so far, when having just moved up an age category, Young became World Champion in Malaga, equalling the M50 British Record with a jump of 1.81m.

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But being on top of the world can have its drawbacks as Young reflects: “When you become World Champion there is nothing higher, so I came back down to earth with a big crash. My wife was the biggest help in getting me back up and motivated again. She took me sailing around the Greek islands and within a couple of months I was back training with the focus on the World Indoor Championships in Poland”. The result? A bronze medal, only losing out on the number of attempts with all the top four clearing 1.80m; another joint M50 British record for Young in indoor competition.

Looking ahead to the European Masters, Young thinks the competition will be tough “In the world there are six of us that are equally matched. Five of these six are European and going to Venice. Any one of us could win on the day”

So what advice does an experienced world champion have for aspiring young athletes? “Core and basic fitness. You cannot underestimate this. It holds the body together and gives you the basic building block to work from. For me bootcamp circuit training made huge improvements”.

Adam competes in the Men’s 50-54 High Jump at the Armando Picchi Stadium in Jesolo on Saturday 7^th September.

Good luck Adam from all of us at Tamworth AC!

Next week our International Spotlight turns on distance runner Ben Evans who will also be in Venice to run the Half Marathon for Great Britain; the final event of the 2019 European Masters Championships.