Less than a week after trimming her W60 1500m world record, the Brit improved her world 5km best at the Veterans AC Championships.

Clare Elms, Britain's most prolific masters record-setter of her generation, lowered her own world 5km best with a mark of 17:45 (17:41.5 rounded up to 17:42 on chip) to win the women's race outright at the Veterans AC Championships.

At the age of 62, Elms became the oldest ever overall winner after a great battle with multi-W55 record-setter Karima Harris.

When athletes arrived at the race there was some doubt about the race even going ahead as there was thunder and lightning, heavy rain and very strong winds.

Fortunately by the time of the start, the sun had come out and the wind had dropped to a more manageable 19/kmh though the course had many puddles.

Elms' biggest competitor here was Harris, six years her junior, who has set UK W55 bests over 10km (35:54) and 10 miles (59:05). Last year she set British records in the half-marathon (77:50) and marathon (2:45:45), so it was unsurprising the pair were close throughout, after Elms initially followed Kent AC clubmate Richard Giles.

After running a 'relaxed' 18:16 at the Serpentine 5km on Friday, before her 1500m record and a parkrun, Elms wasn't sure she would be at her sharpest. However she was keen to prove her near 30-second W60 world best of 17:48 (17:45 chip) in April wasn't a one-off.

After three kilometres of 3:32, 3:31 and 3:34 she matched her then world indoor track best of 10:37 from February. Elms began to slow slightly at 4km but a late rally saw her take three seconds off of her world best as she finished a few seconds behind multi-world M60 record-breaker Andrew Ridley.

Harris was the second woman home in 17:53, with W45 Nicola Archer completing the podium in 18:26.

Elms' time now gives her a current big advantage over her fellow W60s at 5km on the road all-time lists, with Scotland's Fiona Matheson (18:21 in 2023) the next best. It should be noted the world W60 5000m record on the track is 17:50.72 by Sally Gibbs of New Zealand in 2024.

Elms' time here was her quickest since her then W55 world best of 17:39 in 2019, though her personal besrt of 16:43 was set in 2008 at the age of 44. The age-grading on the 2025 tables for her 17:42 is a record-breaking 105.73%.

She puts down her recent run of form to a long injury-free period, new shoes and increased strength training while preparing for Hyrox.

Dulwich's M40 Alex Winchester was a clear men's winner in 15:36 ahead of M45 Phil Cooper (16:25) and M50 Andy Bond (16:28) who also won gold medals in their sections.

Other male age-group winners were M35 Edward Rees (16:33), M55 Steve Winder (17:14), M60 Andrew Leach (16:44), M65 David Ogden (19:11), M70 Peter Kennedy (22:33), M75 Francis Brennan (23:09) and M80 Peter Giles (25:05).

Other female age group winners beside the top three were W40 Anastasia Hancock (20:16), W50 Renata McDonnell (19:00), W65 Karen Samuel (27:34), W70 Anna Garnier (23:26) and W80 Pauline Rich (34:32).

There was also a walk and that was won overall by W65 Susan Payne, who last year was in the gold medal winning World Masters 10km British team alongside Elms in Florida.

Men (5km): 1 A Winchester (Dulw, M40) 15:36; 2 P Cooper (Brain, M45) 16:25; 3 A Bond (Dulw, M50) 16:28; 4 E Rees (Dors D, M35) 16:33; 5 M Cummings (Herne H, M40) 16:34; 6 C Norris (VPHTH, M40) 16:39
M50: 2 T South (Sund S) 16:53; 3 R Berry 16:54; 4 C Compton (Kent) 16:54
M55: 1 S Winder 17:14; 2 J Gonzalez-Armas 17:34; 3 J Jennings (Mid M) 17:56
M60: 1 A Leach (East M) 16:44; 2 J Foley 17:04; 3 A Ridley 17:43; 4 G Moyse 18:02; S Corfield 18:16
M65: 1 D Ogden 19:11; 2 M Leat 19:31
M70: 1 P Kennedy 22:33; 2 C Smith 22:55
M75: 1 F Brennan 23:09; 2 M Mann 25:12
M80: 1 P Giles 25:05
Women: 1 C Elms (Kent, W60) 17:45; 2 K Harris 17:53; 3 N Archer (S Lon, W45) 18:26; 4 R McDonnell (Inv EK, W50) 19:00; 5 A Riddell-Webster (W55) 19:27
W60: 2 L Woolhouse 21:23; 3 P Major 23:07; 4 C Helder 23:30
W70: 1 A Garnier 23:26
W80: 1 P Rich 34:32
5km walk: 1 S Payne (W65) 30:37; 2 C Ha Kwok (W50) 31:13; 3 M Noel (W60) 33:56