OKEHAMPTON Running Club’s Debbie Marsden has recently returned from Lyon in France after taking part in the World Masters’ Athletics Champion-ships.

Competing in the female veteran 35 category she finished 12th in the 5,000 metres in 21 minutes 26 seconds and just three days later she ran in the 10,000 metre event moving right up the leader board to take fifth place in 40.26. Both races took place in temperatures of 43 Centigrade which made them a test of mental strength with several competitors failing to complete.

Describing the World Master Championships as an ’awesome’ experience with an atmosphere like a mini-Olympics, Debbie was surprised to find the 5,000m race to be slow and tactical which was something new for her. With two days to recover she used different tactics for the 10,000m race – actually throwing water over her head on each of the 25 laps – and was delighted with her fifth place behind runners from Poland, Germany, Austria and Spain.

Debbie’s achieve-ment is the more remarkable as three years ago she developed a serious lung problem and was very poorly for a year. Then followed a string of injuries which lost her another year, before a hamstring problem caused a glute muscle to waste away. This year she decided to go for something new to get fit again so having previously run the odd track race for her former club went back to the track as motivation to return to racing.

Now fully motivated, Debbie is eager to get back to her real love - road racing.