Clare Elms is not slowing down. Six weeks after setting the world 5km best for women over 60, and less than a week after trimming her own W60 1500m world record, the 62-year-old Briton ran 17:45 at the Veterans AC Championships on Tuesday to lower her road mark again, as reported by Athletics Weekly.
Her chip time was 17:41.5, rounded up to 17:42. The previous best, set in April, was 17:48 on the gun and 17:45 on the chip. Tuesday’s run took roughly three seconds off that figure and was Elms’ fastest 5km since 2019, when she set the W55 world best at 17:39. Her lifetime personal best is 16:43, run in 2008 at age 44.
The win also made Elms the oldest woman to take an outright victory at the championships, which she did after a long battle with Karima Harris, six years her junior and the W55 holder of British bests in the 10km (35:54), 10 miles (59:05), half-marathon (77:50) and marathon (2:45:45). Harris finished in 17:53. W45 Nicola Archer was third in 18:26. The result is one of the most striking in masters distance running this year.
A race that nearly didn’t start
The morning began badly. Athletics Weekly reported that athletes arriving in Battersea found thunder, lightning, heavy rain and strong winds, and there were doubts the race would go ahead. By the time runners reached the start line, the sun had broken through and the wind had dropped to about 19 km/h, though the course still held standing water.
Elms tucked in early behind her Kent AC clubmate Richard Giles before working through splits of 3:32, 3:31 and 3:34 for the first three kilometres — the kind of even pacing that decides a fast 5K. At 3km she matched her own world indoor track best of 10:37, set in February. She slowed slightly through the fourth kilometre, then closed strongly to take the new mark, crossing the line a few seconds behind multi-world M60 record-breaker Andrew Ridley.
Speaking to Athletics Weekly, Elms said she was unsure how she would feel after a busy week of racing. She had run what she described as a “relaxed” 18:16 at the Serpentine 5km on Friday before her 1500m record and a parkrun. She said she wanted to prove the April mark was not a one-off.
Where the record sits
Elms now holds a sizeable lead at the top of the W60 5km road lists. The next quickest runner is Scotland’s Fiona Matheson at 18:21, from 2023. On the track, the world W60 5000m record is 17:50.72, set by New Zealand’s Sally Gibbs in 2024, meaning Elms is running faster on the road than any over-60 woman has managed on a track.
The age-grading on her 17:42, using the 2025 tables, is 105.73 per cent. That is a record-breaking figure on its own and puts her in the same conversation as runners like Jeannie Rice, whose marks have redefined what an over-60 woman can do on the clock.
Elms credits the recent run of form to a long stretch without injury, a switch in shoes, and added strength training as she prepares for Hyrox. The mix of speed and durability is a useful counter to the assumption that pace falls off a cliff after 60 — a point worth remembering for anyone starting or restarting running later in life.
