One is pointing toward the M50 sprints at worlds. The other is focusing on her 40th birthday in 2009. So what do Britons Tom Phillips and Lesley Richardson have in common (besides nationality)? They’re both toting cameras to Clermont-Ferrand, France, and the 3rd World Masters Indoor Athletics Championships. The six-day meet starts Monday. Lesley writes: “I am not competing in France, but I have started training with a view to making my comeback in Ancona (in) March 2009, which is the European Indoor Masters Championships in Italy. The . . . 60m, which I want to contest, is on the 26th March, the first day of competition — and my 40th birthday.”

As usual, Lesley will be shooting for her commercial site. (She’s becoming so popular she’s getting repeat orders, she reports.) She can be reached in France at her email address or via cell phone # 0044 7958 459123.
Lesley also free-lances for numerous British, U.S., and German press and masters publications (and not just her Web site, which has a worldwide customer base.) She’s also the official EVAA (Eurovets) photographer and part sponsor of the www.evaa.nu. website. (Her logo is on the bottom left of the home page.)
For his part, Tom writes

Yes, I’ll be in Clermont, both as a photographer and as a competitor. Juggling the demands of both is a tough act!
I’m going to be racing in M50 60m and 200m. I’ve raced a fair bit already during the British indoor season. I’d also hope to be in contention for a place in the GB 4x200m relay squad. We got silver in the last World indoors, in Linz, and it would be good to go one better this time.
The Clermont Ferrand stadium looks a great place, and it doesn’t look like getting close to the action will be a problem. I hope to be “trackside” whenever I’m not warming up or racing. I had a complaint a while back from an M55 sprinter that I never got pictures of his races. He’d not worked out that when he was doing his stuff, I was waiting close by to do mine in M50! Mind you, when I grab action from the M45 sprints, I’ve often still got my track shoes on.
As you know, most of my work is for the GB Masters team, though I’ve been in demand for a while to supply publications in the USA and elsewhere. That’s going to be the case in Clermont Ferrand too. My revised website went on line last year, and most of what I take in Clermont Ferrand will be on the site fairly soon after the Worlds (www.tomphillipsphotos.co.uk) It’s one heck of a job selecting, editing and so on, but I’m getting good feedback on the results, which helps. Interest after Riccione was great, and sales probably covered my costs of going there. But has anyone got any pictures of our gold medal winning GB 4x100m team, please?
Lesley Richardson and I both have a different approach to our art, and work well together without feeling that we are in any way in competition. It’s good, because it often means we can cover a meet, like the recent British Indoors pretty fully and come up with a variety of work. Masters athletics (and athletes!) looks superb, and I’m passionate about the need to promote it.
I’ll be checking e-mail (tomp2@tiscali.co.uk) from time to time in Clermont, but I don’t spend a lot of time in the Press Room. I’ve usually got too much going on out on the track!

Further, Tom sent these photos, “a shot of Lesley, snapped by me recently, and one of me, snapped by Lesley.” Now that’s teamwork!