A new course record and a shared victory were the highlights of this year’s Bennachie Hill Race programme.
During Sunday’s racing, 32-year-old Rob Sinclair comfortably won the men’s race, finishing in a time of 52:00 to break the long-standing course record set by Chris Smith in 2009.
But it was the women’s race where the result arguably stole the show – with a fine display of camaraderie from Monica Padilla and Isla Mackay seeing the pair both cross the line in 1:11:55 to take a joint win.
It did not look like a particularly close race between the pair at Bennachie’s summit, with Padilla’s strengths as a climber coming to the fore as she surged ahead of the field.
But, with Mackay reeling Padilla in on the descent, the pair looked set to battle it out in a grandstand finish.
However, instead, the closing stages of the race were characterised by sportsmanship – mainly down to strokes of misfortune for both runners
First, Padilla started to suffer from cramps in her calves, before Mackay went on to turn her ankle.
With the two athletes questioning whether they could actually finish the race, they agreed to complete the course together, stride for stride.
Highland Hill Runners‘ Padilla described how the events unfolded.
She said: “Isla was catching me on the last bit through the trees, but I got awful cramp in both my calves coming off the summit. I slowed right down because I was in so much pain.
“Just as she caught me up, she twisted her ankle.
“I said: ‘let’s just run together, because we’re both suffering here.’”
Mackay, of Lochaber, added: “I said: ‘you can just keep going ahead, I don’t mind.’
“But somehow we managed to keep going together.
“It was good to have her there – otherwise I might not have made it.”
Sinclair breaks 13-year-old men’s hill race record
In the men’s race, local debutant Sinclair finished seven minutes ahead of his nearest challenger, Scottish steeplechase bronze medallist Fearghas Thomson.
It has been a rather disjointed season for Sinclair, who was knocked sideways by Covid and has also had to handle a change in jobs.
With few races left in the hill racing calendar this season, he explained he has been keen to get out and compete as much as his body will let him.
He said: “With various things in my life happening this summer, my season started really late. (I’ve wanted to) capitalise on all the good training I’ve been doing all year, and I’ve just been in the mindset of feeling quite hungry to get some races in.
“Bennachie has always been my local place where I go and train every week. A few times a week I’m out there.
“I’ve always known where the race is, but I’ve just been away for it.”
Knowing the course backwards and having prepared well for the event in the days before it, Sinclair broke away from the leading pack in the early stages.
He added: “I knew I was in a good place to push quite hard from the start. I fuelled well in the days before the race.
“Everything came together quite nicely – the first half mile, you’re on an open logging road, so the four or five of us were running together.
“I went up the first climb and nobody came with me because I was just working with my own pace. That was it for the rest of the race.”
That it was a solo run made Sinclair’s setting of the course record all the more impressive.
The previous mark had stood for 13 years, with the late Chris Smith having held the mantel since 2009.
One of the closest challengers to the old record in recent years, Kyle Greig, finished in third place on Sunday.
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