Last weekend at the Midland Counties Open, Darren Scott broke the European 200m V45 Masters Record in a time of 22.58 seconds, missing out on the Masters World Record by just 0.01 seconds. He was also part of the 4x200m Masters team that broke the World Record.
Scott ran his fastest ever 60m to start the day off, in a time of 7.28 seconds which is a new Scottish Masters indoor record.
His 200m was from lane six, with City of Sheffield AC’s Rick Beardsell in lane 5. The Sheffield athlete won in a time of 22.50 seconds and Scott explains how excited he became: “I knew I was very close to him. The first thing I thought was that I might have smashed the 17 year old European Record, or even broken the World Record for my age which stands at 22.57. I had to wait 10 minutes before I found out the time was 22.58 and I was gutted that I missed the World Record by 0.01 seconds.
“Finally we had the 4x200m relay which the Midlands Counties kindly put on for me. The team was led by Will Macgee, then onto Giuseppe Minetti followed by Michael Gardiner and I ran last leg. We were aiming to break the world record set in 2008 by the French in a time of 1.34.24 seconds. I passed the post in a time of 1.33.97 seconds so we did it! It was a fantastic feeling and we even got to do a lap of honour. It was a very proud moment for all of us.”
The St Helen’s Sutton athlete, who works as a freelance personal trainer and fitness instructor at The Heath leisure suite in Cheshire, talks of his frustration at running so very close to a World Record.
“Driving home I was thinking what a great day I had had and that all my hard work was paying off. However I had an awful sleep that night as I just kept re-living the moment of missing out of the 200m World Record by 0.01 second. At least I have another crack at the World 200m Masters Record at the end of March in the European Masters Championships in Torun, Poland.
“I think records are what motivate me the most, but also winning major championships as you need to be able to run through the rounds and deal with pressure. As many people tell me, records are there to be broken, but medals are for keeps.”
The record-breaking athlete started sprinting at the age of 21. In 1994 he began training with Olympian Allyn Condon and his coach Morris Condon, who still coaches Darren today.
“Sometimes I wonder if I had started as a young athlete what I could have achieved. Saying that, I think the masters is a great way of staying fit and healthy, meeting new people and giving you a new lease of life. I know since I started Masters Athletics in 2005 it has become more and more popular.
“Another couple of goals of mine are to break two outdoor British Records, one being the 100m, as it has stood since 1978 at 11.1 seconds and I believe I can break 11 seconds. Secondly, I aim to break the record over 200m which stands at 22.21 seconds.”
The 200m record is held by Steve Peters who Scott describes as his inspiration in Masters Sprinting.
“In my opinion he is the best British Masters sprinter of all time.”
Scott says that training has been going extremely well, and running a new European Record has already given him a huge boost in confidence for the upcoming outdoor season. The World Masters Outdoor Championships will take place at the beginning of August in Lyon, France, where Scott will be competing in the 100m and 200m. But before that is the European Masters Championships in Torun, Poland, where Scott hopes to better his European record of 22.58 seconds, and hopefully, break the 200m Indoor Masters World Record.
