Fatigue brings heartache for Scot

SCOTS long-distance runner Georgia Tindley confessed her disappointment after being forced to retire from the 110km ultra event in Annecy due to fatigue.

The 24-year-old from Edinburgh ate up 27km of the Salomon GoreTex Maxi-Race main event in the early hours of yesterday morning before conceding defeat.

Starting in darkness at 1.30am, the Hunters Bog Trotters runner started off brightly in the early phases, staying close to the pace- setters during their ascent into the French Alps at the 3km mark.

But Tindley was left with no choice but to withdraw as exhaustion kicked in.

“It’s disappointing,” she said. “Early on I wasn’t feeling right and my heart rate was up. When you are not racing well but you are enjoying it then it’s OK, but that was the problem as I wasn’t enjoying it.

“It was in the middle of the night and it can get quite lonely, so I thought I’d give myself to the sun coming up. I kept going but it didn’t make any difference.”

The soaring temperatures in the Alps could not have helped preparations for this mammoth task.

The sweltering conditions for Tindley and her fellow Solomon Academy team-mates – including Scots Joasia Zakrzewski and Rob Sinclair – further tested their resolve before and during the event.

Commonwealth Games marathon runner Zakrzewski pulled out the day before the race while 27-year-old Sinclair completed the course in 19 hours and 55 minutes as the relentless heat fried both participants and spectators.

Instead, it was home hero Francois D’Haene who delighted the crowd as he raced the course through the mountains in 12 hours and 55 minutes.

The winner from Lille, who runs his own winery as a day job, will be toasting an incredible performance which had him out in front for a large part of the race. American Max King made it a contest for half the race, but his finishing time at Lake Annecy was 13 hours and 34 minutes. Caroline Chaverot was the first woman to cross the finishing line in 15 hours, eight minutes and 59 seconds.