Inverness-based Yorkshireman Robin Howie made his mark on the north-east hill running scene by snapping up two victories – including the Bennachie hill race – inside 24 hours at the weekend.
First up was an emphatic win in the Cairn William run at Monymusk, where he covered the six-mile course in 49min 38secs to finish more than three minutes ahead of his closest rivals.
That was followed by a harder-earned success at the Bennachie race, in which the 24 year-old Highland Hill Runners club member saw off an early challenge from Metro Aberdeen’s Scotland international Hamish Battle.
Howie completed the testing eight-mile route, which took in the tops of Bennachie – including Oxen Craig, Craigshannoch and Mither Tap – in 58:27.
Battle, the 2018 race winner, was second in 60:18, while Ruairdh Oliver-Jones (East Sutherland AC) finished third in 63:02.
Howie said: “It has been a good couple of days as my partner, Monica Padilla, won the women’s race at Cairn William and was third here at Bennachie.
“Her parents live in Inverurie and we’ve been visiting them, so we decided to make a weekend of it by doing both races.
“My legs were a bit tired after the Cairn William run, but I was fine. Hamish set off very fast and I couldn’t go with the pace at the start.
“But I was able to catch him by the top of the first hill, about two miles into the race. I got away after that and extended my lead, although the final mile felt very tough.
“These are the first races I’ve won since we moved up to Inverness from the Bradford area five or six months ago. Monica took a post as a doctor at Raigmore Hospital and I combine my time as a tree surgeon and metalworker.
“I’m not sure which races are next on my list as I leave the planning of all of that to Monica.”
Chris Hill (Cosmic Hillbashers) was first in the over-40 age group when placing fourth overall in 64:17. The over-50 award went to Brian Marshall (Haddington), who was sixth in 67:00, and Phil Mann (Metro Aberdeen) lifted the over-60s prize when finishing 29th in 80:22.
Great Britain ultra distance trail running international Meryl Cooper, from Oldmeldrum, won the Bennachie women’s contest when finishing 11th overall from a field of 116 runners in a time of 60:51.
Laura Dozier was second in 75:52, with Padilla (Highland Hill Runners) third in 76:20.
Rachel Little (Insch) was first over-40 (80:38), Hilary Cameron (Forres Harriers) took the over-50 title in 79:53 and Linden Nicholson (Lasswade AAC) was best of the over-60s in 98:32.
Meanwhile, Keith McIntyre (Fraserburgh Running Club) clocked 20:14 to win the Crimond 6k. Eddie Fernando was runner-up in 22:34 and Denis Konstantinovs took third in 23:31.
Aimee Tawse (JS Kintore) led the women’s field in 25:33, with Jennifer Robertson (Peterhead AC) second, 26:17, and Laurella Noble (Fraserburgh) third, 28:29.
PE teacher Chalmers sets new mark as parkrun Aberdeen sees most competitive race ever
Scotland international cross country runner Sean Chalmers (Inverness Harriers) obliterated the course record when taking top spot in the latest Aberdeen parkrun.
The Aberdeen-based PE teacher covered the beach promenade route in 14min 37sec to scythe 20secs off the previous mark set weeks earlier by Myles Edwards (Aberdeen AAC).
Michael Ferguson (Aberdeen AAC) was also well inside the old standard when finishing second in 14:42, while Max Abernethy (Fraserburgh Running Club) clocked a personal best 15:04 in third position.
It’s the highest in-depth quality set of performances of all 460 Aberdeen parkruns held since the inaugural event in 2011.
Chalmers’ time was the third fastest parkrun performance in the UK at the weekend, being bettered only by Southampton’s Ben Brown (14:32) and Serpentine’s Nicholas Torry (14:33). Ferguson and Abernethy were ranked fourth and sixth.
Hannah Mutch (Aberdeen AAC) recorded 19:32 to take first place in the women’s division of the run for the 69th time, while Vivienne Bruce (Metro Aberdeen) was second in 21:43 and Christiane Farah third in a PB 22:10.
Chalmers, who plans to compete in next weekend’s Baxters River Ness 10k in Inverness, was pleased with the outcome as he only returned to training six weeks ago after a lengthy injury lay-off.
He said: “It was good to get a fast run done. It’s possible to run hard in training, but when there’s a more competitive edge, it gives you a better indication as to how things are going.
“The parkrun definitely had more of a race-feel to it with Michael and Max there. Max was with us until about half way and after that I was battling with Michael.”
Kai breaks own Aberdeen AAC 800m record again
Aberdeen’s Kai Crawford topped off a successful track season with a record-breaking performance when representing Scotland in the schools international at Derby.
The Albyn pupil led from the start and held off a late challenge from England’s Christopher Perkins to win the 800m in 1min 53.14secs.
That’s the third time he has broken the Aberdeen AAC under-17 age group record this season and it elevates him to seventh on the Scottish all-time best performers list.
He also helped Scotland take second position in the 4x400m relay.
Crawford’s Aberdeen clubmate Angela McAuslan-Kelly (Robert Gordon’s College) set a personal best 33.48 for fourth in the girls’ discus, while Dingwall Academy’s James Rollo matched that position in the boys’ discus when also throwing a PB of 46.14.
Tamsin Fowlie enjoyed a busy day finishing fourth in the 200m, 25.81, eighth in the 100m, 12.84, and fourth in the 4x100m relay.
Grace MacDonald (Millburn Academy) was fifth in the 800m, 2:18.12
Eighth places were achieved by Aaron Kerr (Elgin Academy) in the triple jump, 11.04m, Zak Fearn (Dingwall Academy) in the javelin, 44.48, and Stroma Fraser (Fortrose Academy) in the 300m hurdles, 47.40.
Meanwhile, Great Britain international Robbie Simpson helped his Adidas Terrex Lumierre team score an emphatic victory in the Infinity Trails Mountain relay in Austria.
The Banchory athlete joined forces with Russian Dmitrii Mityev and Swede Petter Engdahl to finish well clear of their closest challengers.
Simpson posted the fastest time of 3hr 23min 36secs on his 30k stage, which includes 2,700 metres of climbing.
