IN her first season as a serious sprinter, Lisa Carpenter is proving that age is no obstacle to moving down in distance, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

The decision by the Swindon Harriers’ O45 veteran athlete to step down – in contrast to most athletes who go longer as they get older – is paying off handsomely as she scorched to a personal best time of 49.17secs over 300m at the Cardiff Met Christmas Classic Indoor meeting.

Carpenter’s new coach, Bryan Clinton, said: “Lisa has been running for a few years now but has previously just dabbled in sprinting.

“In the past she has done things like cross country and 800m races but has never focused on one event. But now she is committed to the sprints and has been doing proper training for that event.

“She is so keen and is doing all the sort of things that will help an athlete, like classes for Pilates and Yoga.

“Lisa absolutely loves it and it is like a new sport for her.”

Carpenter went to Cardiff with a PB of 50.95secs, so was delighted to break the 50-seconds barrier for the first time.

Clinton added: “Lisa really wanted that and now hopefully we can push on. I am sure next summer she will be benefit over 400m as well.”

In the men’s 300m, Harriers teenagers Harry Cunningham, who is coached by Kevin Buttle, and Zed Snell represented the club and ran times of 40.59secs and 45.05secs respectively.

County champion and English Schools’ finalist Josh Ricketts made a rare appearance indoors and finished fifth in the shot but had trouble with the circle, fouling three of his throws so was well below his outdoor best.

In the women’s shot, Harriers club-mate Jessica Kinneir finished seventh in her first attempt at the 4k event indoors, and the teenager also tackled the high jump, clearing 1.45m for fourth place.

Swindon senior sprinter Teresa Iannetelli, who is a student at Cardiff University so is very familiar with the track, ran the second best time of her career in the 60m with 8.02secs, just a shade off her PB of 7.96secs set at the same venue last winter.

Another sub-eight time is surely within her grasp over the next couple of months.

Sticking to the roads, Swindon’s Ben Cole continued his fine autumn form with a time of 30mins 32secs in the Telford 10k on Sunday.

That fell short of his lifetime best of 30:13 set in the same event 12 months ago, but coming off the back of his marathon PB of 2:24.46 in Frankfurt at the end of October as well as victories in the previous two Oxford Cross Country League races, shows Cole is in terrific form and ending 2019 on a real high.