ABERDEEN'S Scott Neyedli showed great determination to finish second behind New Caledonia's Patrick Vernay in the Ironman Australia triathlon championships at Port Macquarie, New South Wales, yesterday.
Competing in hot and windy conditions, Vernay lifted the title for the fourth year in a row when completing the 2.4 mile open water swim, 112 miles cycling and 26.2 mile marathon run in a combined time of 8hr 23min 54sec.
Neyedli was slightly quicker than Vernay after the swimming and cycling stages, but lost ground in the early part of the run.
The Aberdeen man rallied strongly, however, and closed to within 45sec of Vernay at one point during the marathon, but dropped back again in the later stages to take the silver medal in 8:27:58. Australian Trent Chapman was third in 8:32:52.
Scotland's Bruce Raeside (Notts AC) won the senior men's race in the home countries cross-country international at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield, on Saturday, while north champion Ben Livesey (Forres Harriers) was 10th.
Raeside completed the six mile course in 31:51.
England and Scotland tied on 13 points in the team competition, but the hosts took the title as their final counter finished ahead of the Scots' last man.
RAF runner Livesey, who had been selected to compete for Scotland and the Combined Services teams, recorded 33:05.
There was further success for the Scots when Matthew Gillespie won the junior men's race.
Melissa Whyte broke her own course record by 48sec when winning the women's division of the Moray Road Runners 10km at Elgin yesterday. The Inverness athlete clocked 35:51 to finish eighth overall from a field of 218.
Frankie Barton (Keith and District) retained the men's title, but he was made to fight every inch of the way by Paul Rogan (Forres Harriers).
Both athletes were given the same time of 34:46, but Barton just edged home in front after a sprint finish at Cooper Park.
Rogan took some consolation by leading Forres Harriers to the team prize.
Eilidh Prise was Scotland's fourth counter, finishing 14th overall in the junior girls' race at the British schools cross-country international at Truro on Saturday.
The Cults Academy pupil recorded 14:34, while England's Loren Bleaken won in 13:21.