Former Hong Kong marathon queen Yuko Gordon breaks British masters record at 70
- Gordon represented Hong Kong when marathon became an Olympic programme at the 1984 Los Angeles Games
- She continues training despite her age and represents a club in Windsor
The 70-year-old Gordon, who left Hong Kong and moved to England with her husband, clocked 3:29:01 in the Dorney Lake Easter Marathon on Saturday. In good temperatures at around six degree Celsius with a little wind, she ran a steady race, passing halfway in 1:43:07 and only slowing slightly in the second half of the race through her economical stride on the flat course around the Olympic rowing lake for the 2012 London Games.
The result not only put Gordon on top of the Women’s over-70 category but also set a new British record as she took six minutes off the time set by arguably Britain’s greatest masters runner, Angela Copson, who ran a national record of 3:35:11 in London in 2017.
Simon Yeung Sai-mo, who ran with Gordon for Hong Kong at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, said the former long-distance running queen kept training in recent years despite her age.
“This is a very fast time in consideration of her age and we are happy to hear she can still achieve this after so many years,” said Yeung, now senior vice-chairman of Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates. “Gordon is a well-known figure in long-distance running during her days in Hong Kong and still keeps in contact with us.”
Two years ago at the Berlin marathon, Gordon ran 3:19:37 to rank third-all time in the Britain’s W65 lists and was only a few minutes off the UK record. But it was already a world under-68 record and made her the oldest ever woman to break 3:20 in the marathon.
Gordon was one of the ambassadors for the 2016 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon, along with former Hong Kong record holder Maggie Chan Man-yee and Christy Yiu Kit-ching, the 2016 Rio Olympian.
In 1984, when women’s marathon was introduced to the Olympic Games for the first time, Gordon represented Hong Kong when she came 34th in 2:46:12 in Los Angeles. The year before, she also represented Hong Kong at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki and finished 35th.