Caithness distance runner Andy Douglas secured back-to-back Scottish titles after a comfortable victory at the Scottish Hill Running Championships in Arran last Saturday.
The course, which took about 250 competitors up and down Goatfell – Arran’s highest peak – saw the 36-year-old Douglas win in a time of 1hr 14min 43sec.
His winning margin of 90 seconds was, he says, partly down to a favourable route which included a 3km stretch of road to start and finished the course – but with a victory at the British Inter-Counties Mountain Race already in the bag from earlier this month, Douglas was already heading to the race in fine form.
Importantly, the victory continues Douglas’s fine preparations heading into the World Mountain Running Championships, due to begin a week on Wednesday, in the Austrian alps. It will be another opportunity for the Glasgow-based Douglas, who still runs for North Highland Harriers, to pull on a British vest at the age of 36.
With a formidable 5km personal best of 14:28, Douglas was able to make good use of a 6km section of the course which was on road. Tactically, it meant he could tag behind some similarly quick road runners before the ascent began.
He said: “There’s a long 3km section on the road to start off with – you start and finish with that. I just tried to go out fairly conservatively, and fortunately there are a few other guys who are quite quick on the road so I was able to nestle in behind them.
“Once the course started to climb on the main trail, I actually managed to get a pretty decent gap. I was climbing quite well and I was really happy with that.”
Ready for World Mountain Running Championships
With qualification already assured for the World Championships later this summer, the descent could be approached a little more cautiously. Douglas does not see himself as much of a technician when it comes to downhill running, but given he had already built up a good gap from his nearest challengers Alistair Masson and Alasdair Campbell, playing percentages seemed a sensible course of action.
“I’m far from the best technical descender – it’s just not my forte,” he admitted. “What I deem technical is probably not that rough for some of the hill running guys. For me, it’s when it’s uneven and bouldery, with loose rock and on a narrow trail. I felt that, for me, that was quite a technical descent and not one I am hugely comfortable going down.
“It’s the kind of beauty of hill running that there are so many different types of courses, and different people excel on different courses. I was fortunate in the sense that it was a good uphill route with 3km worth of road at the start and the end – that played into my hands with a road running background as well.”
After an uphill race at the Spittal of Glenshee this weekend, Douglas’s race preparations for Austria will be complete, and attention will turn to pitting himself against the best in the world. Though 36, Douglas’s drive and competitiveness hasn’t dimmed. Nor has his propensity to put himself through pain and fatigue to get results.
“I think it’s just a mixture of various things (that keeps me competing),” he said. “That inner competitiveness. I just feel like I’m able to get myself in good enough shape to compete with the best guys in this country.
“I just love the sport, I love the people who are involved with the sport. I’ve made a lot of really good friends. You obviously have the competitive aspect, but going on trips is a lot of fun and something I really enjoy.
“If the drive and the motivation is still there to train you just try and get the best out of yourself. What we’re seeing across a lot of sports now is that there is more longevity to athletes careers. You draw a lot of inspiration from other guys in their late 30s and early 40s at the stop of their sport. You think if they can do it, why can’t I?”
Douglas will begin his World Championship campaign in Innsbruck-Stubai, in western Austria, on Wednesday, June 7.
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