Trail Half Marathon Hailed A Success

19 MAY2010

Scotland's newest Trail Half Marathon was held for the first time on Sunday May 16. The race took place at the Nevis Range facility, situated at the foot of Aonach Mor near Fort William. Race organisers were pleased with the turnout and the urged the 100 runners to enjoy the challenging course, under perfect weather conditions.

The route taken by the racers was undoubtedly a tough physical test, but it also exposed the runners to some of the most breathtaking scenery available in the UK. The 13.1 mile undulating run wound its way over an exciting array of footpaths in Leanachan Forest and on the side of Aonach Mor. The course proved to be a huge hit with the competitors.

With the final stretch of the course descending down a famous section of the 'Witches Trail' world cup mountain bike route, it was Inverness based athlete Kenny Riddle (Highland Hill Runners) who emerged from the forest to take the win in a time of 1 hour 18 minutes and 6 seconds.

Having initially battled at the start of the race with 2nd place finisher Martin Gore (Lasswade AC/Edinburgh RC), Riddle, who competes in the veteran class, gained a convincing lead to take the victory by over 3 minutes. He put his success down to knowledge of the trails through competing in mountain bike races.

Eammon Maconvery (Team Purple) traveled over from Ireland for the weekend and was rewarded with picking up the last podium slot in third place. The first woman to cross the finish line was Eleanor Reid (Enemigos) with a time of 1hr 35 min 34 seconds. Four minutes back in 2nd place was Alison Wilson with Susan Jane Ross taking third.

Race Organisers, No Fuss Events, were delighted with the success of this inaugral Trail Half Marathon and hope to build on its success next year.

Full Results are available here.