The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Of visit to Balmoral
40s award went to Willie Nicolson (Highland Hill Runners), who was 13th in 17:25.
Scottish cross-country champion Morag MacLarty (Central AC) pipped title holder Jenny Bannerman (Inverness Harriers) by four seconds to win the women’s prize in 16:58.
The Larbert athlete’s time is the third quickest in the history of the race, being bettered only by Rhona Auckland’s 15:55 course record from 2014 and her 2013 winning time of 15:55.
MacLarty, a former Scotland Commonwealth Games representative, said: “I would have been happier if it had been a little bit faster but I felt quite tired today. I never realised Jenny was so close at the finish.
“I’m thinking about doing the Scottish 10,000m track championships next Friday but I’ll see how things go over the next few days.”
Aberdeen AAC’s Rebecca Eggeling, who set a record time when winning last year’s secondary schools 2.5km, finished third in 17:30, while Metro Aberdeen’s Kayleigh Jarrett set a personal best 18:07 in fourth position. Harry Smith (Essex Triathlon Club) overhauled Dan Whitehead (Deeside Runners) on the final 5km running stage to win the Apollo duathlon on the second day of the RunBalmoral 20th anniversary race meeting.
The former Balmoral estate worker, based in the south of England, was ahead after the opening 6km run but Whitehead, the 2016 winner, moved in front on the 16km mountain bike stage and held a 14sec advantage as they came out of the transition zone.
Smith responded strongly, however, and powered back into the lead on the final leg to complete the course in 1hr 20min 17sec with Whitehead 26sec behind in second.
Smith said: “There wasn’t much in it but I saw a bit of red mist going into the final run when I saw Dan in front of me, so I just decided I had to go for it and did enough to win.”
Alan Semple (Fleet Feet Triathletes) was third in 1:21:32.
Clare Whitehead (Deeside Runners) scored an emphatic victory in the women’s race, completing the course in 1:33:03.
She said: “I had people to race against all the way round, so I enjoyed it.”
Kerry Prise, the 2016 champion, was second in 1:37:58 and Coralie Arthur finished third in 1:39:09.
Prise went on to win the women’s prize in the Repsol Sinopec Devil of Deeside Challenge for the best cumulative time of 4:37:08 from the 5km, 10km, duathlon and 15-mile trail race over the weekend.
Aberdeen’s Alan Semple won the men’s title with a time of 3:51:17.
Sam Hesling (Highland Hill Runners) won the Trac 15-mile trail race in 1:29:23, with Callum Symmons (Edinburgh University) second in 1:30:31 while Tom Roche (Insch Trail Running Club) was third in 1:31:19.
Ellie Buchan (Aberdeen AAC) won the women’s race in 1:43:23 with veteran Veronique Oldham (Cosmic Hillbashers) second in 1:44:15 and Anne Hartmann (PH racing Club) third in 1:46:17.
Braemar triplets took the top three positions in the three-mile Trac Wee Trail race. Fergus Wood was first in 20:2, while his 16-yearold brothers Angus and Fraser were joint second in 21:51. Orla Crosby was first woman in 24:33, followed by Paula Hawthorn in 27:15 and Jill Stander (Newburgh Jogscotland) in 27:47.