Masters World Record and Sub-4 Minute Mile at Bury’s Track

It was a truly historic day for Bury Athletic Club on Sunday as the Market Street track saw a world record and a sub-4 minute mile plus a number of track record performances at the Track Miles event held in conjunction with the British Milers Club. The weather conditions were perfect for fast times, with warm sunshine and hardly a breeze. The track programme got underway with ten BMC 800m races with many athletes setting new personal best performances. The men’s and women’s A races were particularly spectacular with Henry Fisher of Blackheath scorching around the track in 1:46.38 set a set a new track record. Italy’s Laura Pellicoro leave the field in her wake as she too set a new women’s track record of 2:01.05. There was also joy for Sale’s Andrew Thompson in the A race whose PB of 1:46.66 saw him gain qualification for Northern Ireland team for the Commonwealth Games.

Next came the men’s 4 x 800m relay race comprising of three teams; the M35 challenge team, the FLYCARB (https://www.flycarb.com) team and the Skills for Security team. The M35 team were attacking the world record for the age category that had stood at 7:51.47 since 2016, by a team from Spain. Salford’s Harry Wakefield took the first leg, handing the baton over in 1:49.8 after a great battle with Sale’s Elliott Savage. David Scott from Cumbernauld completed the second leg in 1:56.0 being pushed all the way by FLYCARB’s Tom Oladiti. Southampton’s Matthew Revier ran an excellent third leg, covering it in 1:55.8 again being pushed hard by the FLYCARB athlete, Evan Savage. The M35 team were already well ahead of world record pace but Sale Harrier David Proctor ran brilliantly to record 1:53.3 for his leg and stopping the clock on 7:34.86 to demolish the old record by nearly 17 seconds. The spectators created a superb atmosphere as they celebrated the first ever world record on the Bury track.

The Bury AC open miles were next on the programme and what an experience for the club runners in the first race to step onto a track that had just seen a world record. The first race was won by Under 13 Rose Blaney from Bolton. The second race saw a victory for Bury’s Lucy Dent with 5:44.22. Karl Hinze took fourth with 6:13.97 with sisters Ella and Sophie Straffon-Finch placing sixth and seventh with 6:36.33 and 6:47.22 respectively. Race three saw Paul Marshall take the victory in 5:02.68 with Matt Finch third in 5:09.93 and Rachel Marshall seventh in 5:32.23. Race four saw a perfectly timed finish from Taylor Warburton to secure the win in 4:53.96 ahead of Declan Tattersall who placed third in 4:58.28 after setting the initial pace, with Ryan Hallworth in sixth with 5:02.43. Christian Peters had to settle for second place in race 5 with 4:49.07, just behind winner Thomas Brown from Altrincham. Conor Wilkinson was third with 4:50.48 and Paul Johnston sixth in 4:53.63. However, star of that race was Under 13 Ethan Statham smashed his personal best in eighth place, recording 4:54.91 to move him up to second in the UK for his age group and seventh on the all-time list. Race six saw a brilliant performance from James Brown securing victory in 4:26.88 with Luke Harreld in fourth in 4:38.20. The results can be accessed through this link https://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2025/results%20-%20bury%20open%20mile%202025.pdf

Ethan Statham

The three BMC miles were next on the track and these first saw 17 year old New Marske Harrier Gabrielle Pinder run away from the field to cross the line in a new track record of 4:47.943. However, it was the men’s A race that delivered an amazing performance. Herne Hill’s Arlo Ludewick produced an electric last 200m to cross the line in a PB of 3:57.08 pushed hard by Loughborough’s Rowan Miell-Ingham who also dipped under 4 minutes for the first time with 3:58.99. It was spectacular to see the iconic 4 minute barrier beaten for the first time ever on Bury’s track. There was also a M50 British record Dean Richardson of 4:28.23.

The 5000m was the final event and the A race saw three Bury athletes competing. Rugby’s Finley Ward won in 14:15.80 with Bury’s Matthew Lowe in eighth in 14:54.64 with teammate Martin Clark in ninth with 14:56.76, both PBs. Seb Poma, recently back from his home in Peru, placed twelfth in a PB of 15:09.63. The meeting was a resounding success thanks to Bury’s superb volunteers and the hard work of meeting director Byron Edwards. For context 56% of the BMC athletes set new personal bests in their respective distances. The BMC results can be found here https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=697566

Matthew Lowe and Martin Clark