Douglas still on top after uphill battle
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Halkirk mountain-running ace Andrew Douglas climbed ever closer to World Cup glory after finishing in fourth spot in Austria.
Douglas, who triumphed in the first two rounds in France and the United States, had to battle the Grossglockner mountain in an event that was exclusively uphill.
Given the previous two races involved going up and then ploughing on downhill, this event was one for the climbing specialists and so it proved.
Eritrea's Filimon Abraham won in a time of 1hr 11 min 56 sec ahead of Kenya's Geoffrey Ndungu, who crossed the line in 1hr 12 min 19 sec. In third was Austrian runner Manuel Innerhofer in 1hr 12 min 32 sec.
Douglas, who last won the World Cup in 2016, clocked up a time of 1hr 13 min 31 sec to consolidate his position at the top of the overall leaderboard with four races left in Wales, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia.
While he was unable to make it three wins in a row, Douglas himself admits that he would have been surprised had he done so.
"It was a very strong field out there and it was tough," he said.
"All the course was uphill so I knew that it would take an extraordinary effort for me to win. A course that has both an up and downhill track suits me best.
"I knew before the race that there were guys in it who were stronger going uphill.
"The runner who won is himself one of those guys. However, he is not the best descender.
This race was all about trying to accumulate some points
"You certainly have to shorten your cadence when you run uphill. You have to try not to run high on your toes for too long, either.
"It’s a natural thing to do when you're running uphill, but it’s a lot of strain on your calves. I'm actually not feeling too bad 24 hours later.
"As much as an uphill course hurts, there's not too much damage to the legs. The impact on your legs when going downhill is what you have to be careful about.
"For me, this race was all about trying to accumulate some points to add to the two maximums I got with the first couple of races of the season.
"Saying that, it was pleasing to finish the course 90 seconds faster than I did last year. Another plus was that I was able to finish ahead of those closest to me in the overall standings, so this has been a good race for me despite the final position."
Douglas is back in action this weekend with round four of the World Cup taking place at Snowdon in Wales.
He added: "This will be my first race at Snowdon. I'm looking forward to it as it's such an iconic venue.
"It's a quick turnaround from Austria so the recovery time is short but I can't wait to compete in it.
"Snowdon will be an uphill/downhill course so that will suit me better this time around, but I'm not taking anything for granted.
"We all know that bad form or injuries can strike at any time so I'm not looking beyond this race."
