The Scotsman

Thompson surprises himself with Great Scottish win as Hawkins fades

-

The script dictating that Callum Hawkins would return to the Great Scottish Run and reaffirm his domestic dominance was shredded in Glasgow yesterday as Chris Thompson surprised himself with victory in 62 minutes and 44 seconds as his Scottish foe, for once, was left digging deep and coming up empty.

Dropped after seven miles, the 2016 winner was left to scrap for the consolatio­n of second place with his fellow Rio Olympian Tsegai Tewelde, with the pair separated by the tiniest of margins as both trailed in 34 seconds adrift.

Not the ideal start to a winter campaign that will be steered towards the Commonweal­th Games, Hawkins acknowledg­ed. Not the performanc­e he had sought after a postseason break which left him unexpected­ly drained.

“That was tough,” he said. “The legs weren’t there. When Chris made his move, I was in a terrible spot. I tried to recover but, towards the end, I was just racing Tsegai. I’ve been struggling since I started back. This week [the legs] felt normal and I hoped it would be there but it wasn’t.”

0 Chris Thompson shows his delight as he wins in Glasgow.

Thompson, now 36, was onceaprodi­gyhimself,aeuropean silver medallist behind Mo Farah in 2010 but plagued by one injury after another. “At my age, I have good days and bad days,” he said. “This was a good day, especially when you’re ahead of someone who was fourth at the world championsh­ips.”

Flomena Daniel secured Commonweal­th gold on these streets three years ago and the Kenyan made a triumphant return in the women’s race, winning in 72:44 ahead of GB star Charlotte Purdue with Scottish challenger Fionnuala Ross third.

Sammi Kinghorn warmed up for her marathon debut in Chicago on Sunday by coming second in the wheelchair race behind training partner Kyle Brotherton. Yet, she revealed, it required a steroid injection in her arm last week to deal with a bout of tendonitis. “It suggests over-use,” she admitted. “But when you’re pushing a chair all day, it’s hard to avoid using your arms.” Grange retained their perfect record in the first division by beating Hillhead 3-2 at Old Anniesland on Saturday, but the win was not without a slice of good fortune, writes Craig Madden.

With the contest drifting to a 2-2 conclusion as it entered the final minute, up stepped Luke Cranney to fire a fierce shot into the roof of the Hillhead net to claim all three points.

However, earlier in the second half, with Grange trailing 2-1, they faced the prospect of going two behind as Hillhead were awarded a penalty, but Callum Duke blasted his spot effort well over the bar. Bromac Kelburne marched back to pole position with a 3-2 win over Hillhead yesterday and are a point ahead of Grange with a game more played.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom