Habbies duo bring home the bacon in Danish race

Success for Kilbarchan AAC’s Derek and Gemma in half marathon

A Kilbarchan AAC duo have stormed to success in Scandanavia.

Olympian Derek Hawkins and his clubmate Gemma Rankin both travelled to Denmark to compete in the Lillebaelt Half Marathon.

For Hawkins it marks yet another step on his road to recovery from injury as he bids to get back up to full speed.

A back injury almost completely cost him his spot alongside brother Callum in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but he battled through the pain barrier to make the cut.

Hawkins finished the Lillebaelt race as second Scot across the line having been overtaken by Central AC athlete, Cameron Milne with just 2k to go.

But for Hawkins, it was just another race ticked off as he continues to recover.

He said: “I’m getting there very slowly and am happy enough being able to do a half at this stage.

“It was a really good field and this is a step in the right direction.

“It’s progress despite getting a bit difficult towards the end.”

Milne took an overall third place with a personal best time of 66:39 on his senior debut.

The Central AC athlete kept with the leading group in the early stages which included some challenging climbs before surging beyond Hawkins to take the bragging rights of being first Scot home.

Forres Harrier Mark Mitchell, who is working towards an autumn marathon debut, took seventh place to complete the Scottish men’s team.

Meanwhile, Rankin followed in the footsteps of fellow Habbie Hayley Haining by producing an eye-catching performance.

Both the men’s and women’s races were considerably more competitive in recent years but Rankin was unfazed as she produced a time of 79.25 to cross the line as the top performing Scottish woman.

Overall, Rankin finished the race in fifth position, behind two English and two Danish runners.

Jenny Bannerman took sixth place in 80.36 to make a total of four Scots in top six podium places. Central AC’s Jenn Wetton was ninth in 84.25.