Bannerman delighted at breaking big barrier

Jenny Bannerman set a PB 34:53 to score her third victory in five years in the Baxters River Ness women’s 10km.

The Inverness Harrier cut 14 seconds off her previous best and dipped under the 35-minute barrier for the first time.

She said: “I wanted to win the race, but getting a good time was more important.

“I’m so happy to have done both. It has taken me a long time to get under 35 minutes. I don’t know many times I’ve tried. I ran 35:15 in 2015 and thought I was getting to close to it then, but it has taken another three years to do it.”

She added: “I had a disappointing run in the Scottish championships at Stirling earlier in the month but knew I had a good performance in me.”

Edinburgh AC’s Ella Revitt was second in 35:35, while Rosanna Andrews (Rugby and Northampton) was third in 37:08.

Julie Hendry (Metro Aberdeen) was first over-40, 11th overall, in 40:04.

Ross County AC’s Hamish Hickey won the Baxters River Ness 5km for the second year in a row.

The 17 year-old, who recently started a sports studies course at Stirling University, ran 16:22, which is 50 seconds quicker than his 2017 winning time.

He said: “It’s slower than my best for the distance but I just wanted to run it at my 10km pace, so it’s fine.

“This is my last road race of the season so my next competition will be the North District cross country relays at the beginning of October.”

Lucas Cairns and Inverness Harriers clubmate Euan Rollo repeated their positions from 2017 by finishing second and third respectively.

Grace MacDonald (Inverness Harriers), a 12-year-old pupil at Millburn Academy, was first girl in a PB 19:27.

She said: “I didn’t expect to win so I am very pleased. It’s also my fastest time as my previous best 5km was 20:38. Last year I was fourth, so this is a big improvement.”

Anna Cairns (Inverness Harriers) was second and Ruby Wittka-Jezewski (Ross County AC) finished third.