Kingussie athlete Georgia Tindley will go into the Great Britain world mountain and trail running long distance championship trials later this month in a confident mood after a record-breaking performance in the Ben Rinnes hill race at Dufftown.
The Hunters Bog Trotters club member powered round the 22k route, which included 1500m of strength-sapping climbing as it winds over the summits of Little Conval and Meikle Conval and on to Ben Rinnes itself, before returning by the same route.
Her time of 2hr 12min 33secs scythed close to six mins off the previous women’s record set by her clubmate Jill Stephen three years ago. Only four men ran quicker.
Stephen, who had won the previous three Ben Rinnes races, was unable to compete on this occasion as she has taken over the role of event organiser from Craigellachie’s Graeme Bartlett, who has stepped down after six years at the helm.
Nevertheless, Tindley faced a top quality opponent in the shape of Carnethy’s Charlotte Morgan, the 2018 world long distance mountain running champion.
However, Morgan, who won a mountain running world cup race in Poland at the end of June, had to settle for second position in 2:18:29, 17secs adrift of the previous record.
Tindley said: “I knew it would be tough because Charlotte was there, but I stuck to a good steady pace and managed to lead all the way.
“I hadn’t previously done the race but I checked out the route at the beginning of the week. It was really hot then but fortunately the temperature dropped by race day and conditions were fine.
“I knew what the record was, and thought if I had a good day I might get it. And, by the time we got to the top of Ben Rinnes I knew I could do it so long as I could make the return journey in an hour.
“I didn’t realise I was six minutes inside Jill’s record, so I’m happy about that.”
On the basis of this performance Tindley appears to be in good shape for the Great Britain trial race for the world long distance trail running championships to be held at Chiang Mai, Thailand in November.
The trial is incorporated in the Scafell Pike Trail Marathon at Keswick on August 15 when competitors tackle a 44k route with 1800m of elevation.
She said: “Ben Rinnes was a warm-up for Scafell, just to find out where I’m at. But we’ll see what happens when I go there.”
Her plans also include a possible outing in the Glen Coe Skyline race in September. When it was last held, in 2019, she won the women’s division, completing the 52km route, including 4,750 metres of climbing, in 8:29:57.
Andy Douglas also in record-breaking form
Great Britain international Andy Douglas emulated Georgia Tindley’s performance by producing a record-breaking run in the Ben Rinnes men’s race.
The Edinburgh-based Caithness athlete was in a class of his own as he stopped the clock after 1hr 51min 27secs.
That slashed 2min 20secs off the previous fastest mark set by Carnethy’s Ireland international Eoin Lennon in 2018.
It was an impressive effort given it came only a fortnight after Douglas made a successful ultra distance racing debut, winning the Laugavegur 55km mountain race in Iceland in a time of 4:10:36.
As with Tindley, Douglas is heading for the Great Britain trails for Thailand and is looking forward to the challenge.
He said: “I knew what the record was, but as I had never run the course before, I wasn’t sure if it would be possible.
“But I felt good on the climbs. It was one of those days when everything felt comfortable and I got into a good rhythm.
“I realised the record was on so I put my foot on the gas over the last descent towards Dufftown and was happy to finish inside the time.
“My next race will be the world trials and depending on how that goes, I’ll decide what else I’m doing.”
Andrew Barrington (Lochaber AC), who was second in 2015 and third in 2016, finished runner-up in 2:09:57, while Alastair Bisset (Edinburgh University) was first in the under-23 age group, third overall, in 2:11:21. Mark Harris (Fife) was first over-50 in 2:15:37.
Keith shows why she is one for the future
Megan Keith, 19, has rocketed to the top of this year’s UK under-20 women’s 5,000m rankings with one of the best performances of all-time by a Scot in this age group.
The Inverness Harriers club member cut almost 40secs from her previous best time when recording 16min 08.88sec in the Glasgow Milers meeting at Scotstoun stadium.
It’s the second quickest time by a Scot at under-20 level, bettered only by Edinburgh Olympian Yvonne Murray, who clocked 15:52.55 in 1983.
Keith, who recently missed a medal when placing fourth in the European under-20 women’s 3,000m, finished runner-up in the Glasgow race behind Fife’s Annabel Simpson, who clocked a PB 15:48.61.
She said: “I’m happy with how I ran and I think I did the best I could. But I feel if there were more people to run with I might have had a chance of going under 16. I was on my own for the final five laps after Anna kicked away.”
Inverness Campus race champion Jamie Crowe (Central AC) won the men’s 5,000m in 14:07.31, while his clubmate, Strathpeffer athlete Hamish Hickey, was fifth in a track PB of 14:32.58.
Also in Glasgow Kai Crawford improved his own Aberdeen AAC under-17s 1500m record when recording 3:56.51, an improvement of just over one sec on his previous mark set at Grangemouth earlier in the month.
Meanwhile, Elgin’s Grant Jeans added another ultra distance title to his growing list of honours with a fine victory in the John Lucas Memorial race at Strathaven.
He completed the 46-mile course in 5hr 39min 21secs to finish 31min ahead of his closest challenger. It’s his 19th ultra race victory.
Aberdeen’s Sarah Milne won the women’s race in 7:32:48.
