Metro Aberdeen’s Les Nicol hopes to celebrate his 86th birthday this weekend by becoming a Scottish cross country champion – again.
The Torry runner is taking part in the Scottish masters championships at Balgownie playing fields. where he’ll tackle a 6k course which would tax the endurance powers of many men of a quarter of his age.
Nicol is no stranger to success in this competition as he has won four national age group titles in the past.
It started in 2010 when he struck gold in the 70-74 category and he followed that with wins in the 75-79 division in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
He also pocketed gold at the 2018 British masters championships in Forres.
Now Nicol is aiming for more glory on home ground, although he can expect a strong challenge from Teviotdale’s James Pittilo, who won the over-80’s title when the championships were last held two years ago.
Nicol said: “It’s a few years since I’ve been able to run in the championships, so I’m looking forward to it.
“There were a couple of years when I wasn’t so good because of injuries, then we had the pandemic and the races were cancelled.
“But since the end of lockdown I’ve got more running done again, although recently the weather hasn’t been good for it.
“I’ve been going to the gym two or three times a week where I use a treadmill and rowing machine, as well as doing some leg work.
“Otherwise I enjoy running from Torry, on to the grass and down by the harbour.”
Nicol has kept his motivation going by touring round all the local parkruns over the past few months.
He said:” Apart from the Aberdeen ones, I’ve been to Montrose, Stonehaven, Crathes, Inverurie and Ellon.
“I think I’ve set record times for my age group at all of them.”
Nicol is keen to add to his medal tally this weekend and knows he is pretty much guaranteed to come away with something.
He joked: “I’m ready for it, but I see there’s one other runner in my age group – so if I don’t get gold then surely I’ll get silver!”
Tole looks for outright victory at Balgownie
Jim Tole aims to become the first Metro Aberdeen runner to score an outright win in the Scottish masters cross country championships since Keith Varney 23 years ago.
The national event goes ahead at Aberdeen University’s Balgownie playing fields today with hundreds of runners travelling from all over Scotland to take part.
Tole has been in outstanding form this winter.
In November, he won the over-40’s gold at the Scottish short course championships at Lanark. It was the first time an Aberdeen athlete had struck gold in any of the masters age groups at these championships.
The following month he won the East District masters title and in doing so he led Metro to team gold.
But the 46-year-old admits that victory this weekend would top all of these achievements.
He said: “I’ve been aiming for this race for the past year. I was in good shape 12 months ago, but the championships were cancelled because of lockdown.
“This is definitely the one I want to win.
“A few years ago, I finished fourth, but there was only a few seconds between all of us – I was pipped at the finish. I was annoyed by that, so I want to do better.
“Ideally, I’d like to win the race outright, but I’d settle for being first in the over-45 age group.
“I’m as well prepared as I can be, although I’ve been nursing a calf strain for the past three weeks. I may have missed 7-10 days of training, but I don’t think that will affect me. The rest has maybe done me good. So, I’ll strap the calf up for the race and I’m sure it will be fine.”
“I reckon I’m fitter now than I was six or seven years ago. I’ve been helped by training with guys like Will Mackay, Jason Kelly and Chris Richardson, so everything is good.”
Tole admits that home advantage could be a factor in helping achieve his goal.
He said: “I know how fast I can go round that course as I’ve covered every inch of it over the past few months. So, I’m not going to lose because of not being familiar with the route.”
Metro will field a strong squad in a bid to feature among the team medals.
Tole will be backed by the likes of Allan Christie, Paul Knight, Jeremy Kibble, Wayne Dashper, Dino Roussias and Steve Buchan.
There’s further Metro strength is the other age groups, with George McPherson (60-64), Neil Kelly (55-59) and Nick Milovsorov (55-59) capable of winning individual medals.
Fraserburgh’s Brian Urquhart should feature prominently in the 65-69 division.
Julie Hendry, Sarah Simpson and Ruth Wolfe lead the Metro Aberdeen women’s squad, while Veronique Oldham, Sonia Armitage and Victoria Brown represent Aberdeen AAC.
