Trail race success for Dunnett twin
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SEVENTEEN-year-old local twins Emma and Oonagh Dunnett took to the slopes of Ben Lomond recently for the Scottish Hill Running Championships.
It is the only selection race for the World Mountain Running Association International Youth Cup and the pair were competing in the under-19 section.
All looked good for the first 1k but the rest of the race was more about pure determination to finish. Emma, having set off in second place, struggled and fell to third with Oonagh some 40 secs behind her in fourth.
With three runners selected for the Europeans, Emma was successful in gaining her place for the second year running and competes for Scotland on Sunday at Wicklow Mountains in Ireland. Oonagh on this occasion had to settle for the reserve position in the team.
The girls turned their attention to selections for the Karrimor International Trail Race in Keswick as part of the Karrimor Great Trail Challenge. With three places on offer for juniors aged 17 to 20 years it was a big ask.
With it being a new event, there was no definite selection race but rather a suggestion runners should take on a variety of hill races and the Falkirk 5k parkrun which takes place in Callendar Park. Emma and Oonagh set their sights on a weekend of racing with the first stop being Falkirk.
The girls set off at a sensible pace, having sussed out the two testing hills. Emma worked her way through runners over the first 2k and then set her sights on one of the females ahead of her. With her usual exceptional pace judgement, she reeled in the senior woman and opened up a clear 30 seconds between them by the finish.
In a time of 19.15 min Emma came home second female and fourth overall. Oonagh also worked her way strongly through a group of senior men and finished a creditable fourth female in 21.30 min.
From Falkirk the girls travelled to Banchory for the Scolty Hill Race, a senior race over 4.5 miles, with a total climb of 1300ft. The girls finished together in second equal place in the senior women’s race, finishing 20th equal overall.
Following the weekend’s racing and previous race outings, Emma was successful in securing international selection for the trail race and Oonagh had to settle for reserve place on the team.
In the first of the internationals, Emma, along with GB internationalist Scout Adkin and Scottish internationalist Louise Mercer, took on the under-20 English, Welsh and Irish teams.
Emma started her run conservatively as the athletes climbed for the first 2k then, as she hit the downhill section, she secured sixth place which she held to the end. With team-mates Scout in third and Louise in seventh, the junior women’s team took second place behind England and the Scottish team was second overall in the team challenge.
