At 62 years old, Clare Elms just did something that most athletes half her age will never come close to achieving.
The British masters runner shattered a seven-year-old world record at the W60 3000m distance — and she did it in sweltering 30-degree heat, by a margin so thin it barely registers on a stopwatch.
We’re talking 0.18 of a second.
The story of how she got there, the rivals pushing her forward, and what she’s planning to do next is the kind of thing that reminds you why sport is so utterly compelling.
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A Record Seven Years In The Making
Elms crossed the line at the Ron Hale Open in Lewisham, London, clocking 10 minutes, 28.76 seconds — wiping out Germany’s Silke Schmid, whose mark of 10:28.94 had stood since 2019.
It sounds clean on paper, but the road to that finish line was anything but.
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Elms had been circling this record for months, missing it by agonisingly narrow margins on three separate occasions — running 10:33.34 in 2024, then 10:31.73 earlier in 2025, and then 10:31.15 just last month.
Each attempt closer. Each one just not quite enough.
Sunday was different — and the fact that she finally nailed it in near-scorching conditions makes the achievement even more jaw-dropping.
How The Race Unfolded
Elms settled in behind M55 runner Paul Stack and her Kent AC clubmate Richard Giles through the opening kilometre, hitting the 1000m mark right on target at 3:29.0.
Giles paced her through halfway at 5:14.2 and through 2000m at 6:59.1 — but then the heat began to take its toll.
Giles pulled five metres clear on the penultimate lap, the schedule started slipping, and for a moment it genuinely looked like the record was going to escape her again.
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Then came the final 100 metres.
Stack kicked hard, Elms went with him, and she crossed the line 0.18 of a second inside Schmid’s long-standing mark. As Athletics Weekly reported, Elms herself believes a cooler, calmer evening could yield an even faster time — which is a remarkable thing to contemplate.
Over 100 Records And She’s Still Hungry
For anyone unfamiliar with Elms, the 3000m world record is just the latest addition to one of the most extraordinary collections in British athletics history.
Over the past two decades, she has accumulated more than 100 British, European, or world records and world age bests — a tally that speaks to decades of consistent, structured training rather than a late-career flash of form.
And 2025 alone has been remarkable.
Earlier this year she set world masters indoor records over the 3000m and the mile, a world W60 outdoor 1500m record of 4:56.77, and world W60 bests at 5km — running 17:48 and then improving it to 17:45 — as well as a five-mile best of 29:53.
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This is what peak masters athletics looks like.
Pushing Past What The Numbers Say Is Possible
Elms sits alongside a rare group of athletes — among them American marathon phenomenon Jeannie Rice — who have consistently outrun what the age-graded performance tables say a human body should be capable of delivering at their stage of life.
Britain’s most prolific masters middle-distance runner, she has kept training and racing deep into her sixties with a discipline and dedication that puts many younger competitors to shame.
Sunday’s 3000m was also her quickest at the distance in seven years — since the British W55 record she set at age 55.
She is, in every measurable sense, getting faster as she ages.
The Rivalry That’s Driving Her Even Further
Behind every great athlete is a story that keeps them fired up — and for Elms, that story has a name.
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Fellow Scottish masters runner Fiona Matheson, who previously held the world W60 indoor 3000m record before Elms claimed it, has now moved up to the W65 age group and is already making her mark there.
On July 4, Matheson set a British W65 5000m record of 19:25.13 at the Pursuit 5000m in Stirling — running in cooler conditions than London — apparently intent on raising the bar as high as possible before Elms arrives in that age category.
Elms moves up to W65 in just two years.
Matheson, it seems, is already laying down the gauntlet — and knowing what Elms has done chasing down targets before, that rivalry is shaping up to be one of the most compelling storylines in masters athletics.
What Comes Next For Elms?
Given her belief that a cooler evening would bring a faster 3000m time, it seems almost certain Elms isn’t done with this record just yet.
She’s already rewritten the record books more than 100 times. The only question now is how many more times she’ll do it before she’s finished.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
If history is any guide, the answer is a lot.
