Sean Chalmers produced a series of top class performances to claim a hat-trick of victories in the 25th anniversary Run Balmoral races which attracted more than 5,000 runners to Deeside at the weekend.
The Aberdeen AAC athlete won the Harbour Energy 5K and the Stena Drilling 10K on Saturday before going on to take top spot in Sunday’s Bristow 15-mile trail race to emulate the triple crown achieved by fellow Scotland international Jamie Crowe of Central AC in 2023.
Crowe intended going head-to-head with Chalmers this weekend but called off at the last minute after failing to fully recover from a bout of Covid.
Chalmers could have been forgiven for taking his foot off the gas in Crowe’s absence, but there was no sign of that as he showed impressive form in all three events.
It started with a dominating run in the 5K, which he won in 14 minutes 48 seconds with his Aberdeen AAC team-mate Steven Murray taking second position in 15:53 while Metro Aberdeen’s Lesley Morrison was third in 16:10.
Chalmers said: “I set off quite hard as I was looking for a fast time but after a kilometre I felt a bit shot.
“I’ve been doing a lot of half marathon training so I’m maybe missing a bit of a good turn of pace.
“The support out on the course was amazing, with a lot of people cheering us on and that helped me to pick it up again, so I’m still happy with the time.”
Odentz put the pressure on
A little more than one hour later and the Scotland international was back on the road, tackling the 10k in which he was given a stiffer challenge. Chalmers won in 32 minutes 50 seconds while his clubmate Aaron Odentz was next home in 33:36 and Lochaber AC’s Ryan Mackay finished third in 35:07.
Chalmers added: “Aaron was pushing the pace at the start and I was with him for the first 5k-6k. After we came off the top of the long hill I managed to get a bit of a gap and began to pull away. To be fair to Aaron, I think he was closing in a bit towards the end so it was still a hard effort for me to get the win.
It’s the first time I’ve done the 10k and the famous hill lived up to expectations. It’s a real hill.”
He was totally dominant in the Bristow 15 mile trail race, completing the course in one hour, 25 minutes 29 seconds to finish more than 10 minutes ahead of his closest rival.
Milton marvels in endurance test
Chalmers’s achievements were matched, if not bettered, by Sam Milton who won the John Clark Motors Devil of Deeside title for the third year in a row.
The Moray Road Runners club member posted the best cumulative time of three hours 49 minutes 17 seconds from competing in the 5K, 10K, duathlon and the Bristow 15 mile trail race over a punishing two days of competition. He was sixth in the 5K, fifth in the 10K, third in the duathlon and second in the 15-mile race.
He said: “Of my three wins this was probably the toughest and most satisfying as it came just a week after I competed in the Moray marathon.
“I recorded two hours 40 minutes there, which is just five minutes outside my best, but that gave me the confidence to know that I was in good shape to take on the Devil.”
Sally Wallis of Deeside Runners also hit the high spots by winning the women’s Devil title in a record-smashing four hours 23 minutes 28 seconds.
It was a stunning performance which scythed close to 14 minutes off the previous best set by Aberdeen’s Kerry Prise in 2017.
She said: “I only decided to do it a couple of weeks ago.
“My husband said he was going to put an entry in for me online, and I didn’t stop him.
“It feels fantastic to win but I really began to feel the cumulative effects of the weekend kicking in when we got to the final third of the 15 mile trail race. ”
Cormack shows her class
Gemma Cormack battled through the pain barrier to win the Stena Drilling women’s 10K in fine style after placing fourth in the 5K just an hour earlier.
The 31 year-old, who competes for Moray Road Runners, was twice affected by a severe stitch which almost brought her to a standstill, but showed impressive mental strength and determination to stick to the task at hand.
She completed the challenging route in 40 minute 26 seconds to finish 12 seconds ahead of Sally Wallis (Deeside Runners) while Kerry Berry (JS Kintore Running Club) was third in 42:57. Wallis had also performed well in the 5k, taking fourth position.
Cormack said: “I’ve never tried doing two big races in one day before and I didn’t quite know what to expect, especially with the famous 10K hill, so I tried to start off quite conservatively.
“Then I got a bad stitch and I was contemplating stopping, but there was no easy way of getting back to the start so I decided to keep going.
“Sally passed me on the hill but once we got over the top the stitch eased off a bit and I felt better.
“I overtook her but then the stitch came back for a couple of miles. As I was leading I decided I’d just have to battle through it and I was able to hang on.”
Cormack has been competing at Run Balmoral for 20 years, first taking part in the primary schools race before going on to win the secondary schools run in 2006, and the 5K in 2015.
She said: “I have always wanted to do the 10k and find out about the hill. I don’t think you appreciate how tough it is until you run it. It’s definitely a killer.
“If I hadn’t got the stitch I would have enjoyed it a bit more as I like running off road. The course has a few other ups and downs which suits me much more than a flat course.
There’s always a good atmosphere at Run Balmoral and I love running here.”
The prize for the first kilted runner to complete the 10k went to Glenn Chalmers (Newburgh Dunes Running Club) while the women’s award was taken by Helen Drewery.
Stena Drilling won the Corporate Challenge Team Trophy for the first time by getting the better of title-holders Harbour Energy in a competition in which four runners from each team competed in the 5k and 10k.
Bannerman takes top spot
Jenny Bannerman showed real grit and determination to win the Harbour Energy women’s 5k women’s title for the third time over a 10-year spell during which she has now featured on the podium seven times. However, the Scotland international was made to work exceptionally hard for her latest success, with Aberdeen AAC’s Emma Jenkins pushing the Scotland international all the way to the line.
After an intriguing battle, Bannerman pulled clear over the final 300m to win by two seconds in 17 minutes 55 seconds but the strain of the effort left the Inverness Harriers club member lying exhausted on the ground. Metro Aberdeen’s Scotland international, Fiona Brian, who won the 10k at Balmoral in 2015, took third spot in 18:19.
Bannerman said: “I’ve had a few health issues recently so it was great to get back into the spirit of racing again and to get a win. It’s such a good event and there were lots of people out on the course encouraging me.
“There was a group of four of us for the first kilometre, including Emma Jenkins, who I didn’t know. After we got past the turnaround point Emma was on my shoulder but she was stronger than me when we hit the uphill section of the course and I had to let her go. However, I began to catch her again between 3K and 4K.
“I was feeling really tired but I knew I was pulling her in and I finally overtook her with about 300m to go. That final 300m felt so very long and I was so glad to get to the finishing line. I can’t remember the last time I was on the floor at the end of a race.”
Aberdeen AAC’s Nathan Lawson scored his second major north-east win inside a fortnight when taking top spot in the NFU Mutual secondary schools 2.5k.
The Albyn school student followed up his victory in Aberdeen’s P&J Live Run Fest 5K earlier in the month by finishing well clear of the field in 7 minutes 23 seconds. Ewan Andrews (Cults Academy) held off a strong challenge from Cameron Scott (Cults Academy) to take second position by one second in 7:44.
Peterhead Academy’s Jessica Needs (Aberdeen AAC) retained the girls’ title, running eight seconds quicker than in 2023, to win in 8:11. Emily Christie (Falkirk Victoria Harriers) was runner-up for the second year in a row in 8:18 while Sophie Imlach (Northfield Academy) took third position in 8:51.
Dunecht’s Millie Glass Park (Banchory Stonehaven AC) smashed the course record when winning the MPH primary schools girls’ 1.5k in a time of 5 minutes 45 seconds.
Her performances slashed nine seconds off the previous mark of 5:54 held jointly by Rebecca Eggeling (Aberdeen AAC, 2012) and Emily Christie (Falkirk Victoria Harriers, 2022). The 2022 winner, Eilidh Murdoch (Braemar school) finished second in 5:57 while Hayleigh Reid (Young Meldrum Runners) was third in 6:04.
Liam Miller led Young Meldrum Runners to a clean sweep of the podium positions in the MPH primary schools boys’ 1.5k race when posting a time of 5:36, which is the second best in the history of the event. Only Stewart Miller’s 5:21 record from 2011 is better. Barthol Chapel’s James Gerrard was second in 5:49 with his YMR clubmate Ethan Gravill (Albyn School) finishing a further seven secs behind in third position.
Euan Taylor, from Kincraig blew his rivals away to win the Apollo duathlon by completing the 6K run/16K mountain bike/5K run in a combined time of one hour 18 minutes 58 seconds.
Aberdeen’s Ian Russell, who won in 2023, had to settle for second position in 1:19:57 with Sam Milton (Moray Road Runners) third in 1:20:01.
There was a thrilling finish to the women’s race in which Deeside’s Sally Wallis overhauled Kimberley Jackson in the closing stages to win by two seconds in 1:35:17. Lumphanan’s Laura Murray, who won in 2022, was third in 1:36:49 while title-holder Jenny Stanning had to settle for fourth position in 1:38:22.
Logan Duncan, from Huntly, won the Bristow 3 mile trail race in 20:18 while Emily Christie (Falkirk Victoria Harriers) picked up the women’s prize when clocking 21:44 to finish second overall.
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