Top ten spot for Halkirk mountain runner at World Championships
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CAITHNESS exile Andrew Douglas achieved his aim of making the top 10 in the World Mountain Running Championship.
The 30-year-old from Halkirk, who was the world mountain running series champion two years ago, finished the race in Italy at the weekend in 57 minutes and 32 seconds to finish ninth
He was the first UK runner and third European to complete the course at Premana in the Val Varrone Alps in a race dominated by Ugandans who claimed gold, silver and bronze. Victor Kiplangat claimed the world championship in a time of 52 minutes 31 seconds, with countrymen Joel Ayeko second in 52.50 and Fred Musobo third in 53.57.
Thirty-year-old Douglas had to contend with a couple of niggling injuries as he tackled the course, which contained 7874 feet of ascent. But he was able to overcome them and was pleased with his overall performance.
“The course was brutal and I did go over my ankle a couple of times which caused it to balloon up,” said the Edinburgh-based runner. “I will take a few days off training to allow it to recover,” he added.
“But I was delighted to make the top 10 as at the start line I was apprehensive because the standard was so much higher this year.
“Uganda, Kenya and United States all had really strong teams and they have always been strong nations in long distance running.
“But I did well during the strongest parts of my race and was delighted with the result in the end.”
Douglas added: ”The course had a technical descent with narrow trails that were quite rocky.
“I just had to stay concentrated the whole time, but my adrenaline kept me going through the entire race.”
Douglas now plans to take some time off to recover from his ankle injury but still has his sights on competing in a few more races before the end of the year.
He said he is considering switching from mountain to flat races in the next few months.
He said: “I have not made solid plans but I would like to look at 10K or half marathon races during September and October.
“I would like to get faster in flat racing but I am not ruling out competing in a few more mountain races later on in the season.
“Going on into the winter, I would like to improve in cross country as I feel I can get faster there.”
