Eliisa Reijonen made a new European record in her age group

After the first rainy and a bit chilly day of athletics, the Tampere Stadium was rejuvenated on the
second day when the sun came out. The audience cheered louder, and the athletes seemed more
energetic. Even a record was broken: Finnish Eliisa Reijonen set the new European record –
10.37,93 – in over-70-year-old women’s 2000 meter steeplechase! The old record, from 1936,
belonged to a British Anne Martin with the time 10.49,22. Eliisa came to European Masters Games
to beat this, and she did it – congratulations to Eliisa and all the other over-achieving athletes!

In addition to Eliisa’s and many others’ tremendous achievements, the audience and the athletes got
to experience in various ways the joy of coming together. Some athletes had come from far-away
countries like Japan and New Zealand. The lack of a common language was not an obstacle to
encouraging others and sharing the humble passion for sports. For many EMG athletes, sports is a
means to taking care of oneself and having fun, which became clear from today’s comments.

Perhaps the most genuine one came from Miloslava Rocnakova, a runner in W75 800 m from the
Czech Republic: “Athlete for health.”

Watch Eliisa’s interview here!