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HOKA
HIGHLAND FLING
INC British Athletics and Scottish Ultra trail
championships
Kemp and Dean clinch British ultra trail
championships
The 2013 'British athletics and Scottish ultra trail
championships' were incorporated into the 8th running of
the HOKA Highland Fling on Saturday 27th April. The race is
held over the 53 mile stretch of Scotland’s iconic long distance trail
The West Highland Way trail, from Milngavie, a northern suburb of
Glasgow to the beautiful Village of Tyndrum in Highland Stirlingshire.
Held in good, almost perfect conditions, 'The Fling' as it has become
known has grown to become one of the largest ultra trail races in the
UK and this year almost 500 runners toed the start line for the early
6am start.
Ricky Lightfoot (Salomon trail team ) and Duncan
Harris (Chester tri) were together at the first checkpoint at Drymen
(12 miles ) in 1hour 21min with Lee Kemp (Team Craft) a minute behind.
2 minutes further back were a group including Abingdon’s Paul
Fernandez, recent winner of the self Transcendence 50km race at Perth,
course record holder Andy James (Newbury) and a strong Scottish
contingent with local experience of the course including Matt
Williamson (Bellahouston RR), Marco Consani (Garscube), Paul Giblin
Paisley, with Donnie Campbell and Richie Cunningham a further minute
back.
Former Lakeland 50 winner Tracy Dean was leading
the ladies with1 hour 37 min by 4 minutes from Claire Shelly
(Serpentine).
Reaching Rowardennan, below a snow capped Ben
Lomond in 3.31 (26 miles) Lightfoot had built up a good lead of 8
minutes from Kemp with Matt Willliamson now using his local knowledge
of the course to be clear in third . The tough and rough trail stretch
at the top of Loch Lomond to Beinglas (40 miles) saw Lightfoot (5.18)
maintain his lead with Kemp (5.23) still in touch 5 minutes behind and
Williamson still holding 3rd (5.34 ) ten minutes back.
Donnie Campbell 3rd in the British 100km Road champs a month
previously at Perth had moved up to fourth with 3.27.
Through Glen Falloch Kemp slowly made inroads into
Lightfoot’s lead. On the 3 mile forest stretch above Crianlarich
around the 46 mile mark, which is a bit of a roller coaster featuring
a succession of short but steep ascents and descents, Kemp took the
lead. Once back on the easier final five 5 mile stretch, he
built up a good lead to reach the finish at Tyndrum in 7.03.48 to
take the British title in a new course record almost 9 minutes inside
the time set by Andy James in 2011. Lightfoot with 7.09.30 was
also inside the old record in second, and Matt Williamson in third
knocked a huge chunk off his PB on this course with 7.21.52 to take
the bronze GB medal and also retain the Scottish title he won here
in 2011.
With the Fling being used as a trial race for the
IAU world ultra trail championships in Wales in July, the excellent
times for Kemp and Lightfoot make them strong contenders for selection
for the GB team with Williamson also likely to figure in the
selectors thoughts too.
Kemp from Guildford is relatively new to the ultra
scene. He had who won the White Cliffs 50 mile ultra in Kent in
March was delighted with his win. ”It was my first time running the
Highland fling and the course was as tough as I had been told to
expect. The scenery was absolutely stunning though. I had
hoped to be a contender, so to win and be in with a shout of GB
selection is fantastic.”
Lightfoot found the last sections tough but was
still delighted with second place. He was unable to stay for the
prize giving as he had to return to Cumbria for an evening shift as a
firefighter!!
Scottish champion Williamson who had targeted this
event over the British 100k champs at Perth in March, showed he had
chosen wisely and prepared well and was delighted with his time and 3rd
place in the GB champs.
In the ladies race Dean, despite incurring a bad
calf problem in the first 15 miles which slowed her considerably,
managed to lead all the way. She reached Rowardennan in 4.03 and had
opened a ten minute lead over Shelley, with Alicia Huddleston and
Sandra Bowers some 3 minutes adrift in 4.17 and Harmeny’s Fiona
Cameron in 4.22.
Dean reached Beinglas at the top of Loch Lomond in
6.53 with Bowers now in second (6.57) followed closely by Alicia
Huddleston in 6.59 and Fiona Cameron a further minute behind. Over
the closing 13 miles to the finish, Dean held on to take the British
title in 9.12 21 despite a late challenge from Cameron, who proved
strong in the last section to close to within a minute and a half,
recording 9.13.35. It was a big breakthrough for Cameron
(formerly Ross) improving by an hour and a half on her last outing at
the Fling in 2011 and as well as claiming the British silver medal
took the Scottish ultra trail title too. Former Scottish and GB
100km international Sandra Bowers from Winchester, took the GB bronze
and Scottish silver medals with Edinburgh’s Caroline MacKay taking
the bronze, Scottish medal when finishing 5th overall in
9.36.36
The event, which like so many, has grown from an
idea hatched almost as a group training run (thank you Ellen McVey!)
into one of the most popular 50 milers in the country, was once again
organised superbly by John Duncan and his team. Full results are
available at
http://www.highlandflingrace.org/
Report from Adrian Stott.
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