The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Two-time race winner sits out due to injury
Illuminator record-holder Sam Milton suffers hip fracture
Course recordholder and twotime previous winner Sam Milton will watch from the sidelines when the Illuminator Run takes pace at Aboyne on Saturday evening.
The 15-mile trail race through the darkness of Glen Tanar Forest, with runners navigating by nothing more than powerful head torches, is now in its fourth year and has attracted more than 1,000 participants.
Competitors will travel to Deeside from all over Britain and from as far afield as Melbourne and Nassua.
Milton scored his first victory in 2016 when he set a course record 1hr 40min 19secs before repeating that success last year by reducing his time to 1:36:02.
However, the Metro Aberdeen club member’s hopes of completing a hat- trick of wins were dashed in the aftermath of the serious pelvic injury he sustained at the London marathon in April.
Milton said: “I had to pull out of London in great pain. It was caused by what was originally diagnosed as a tear of my gluteus medius muscle.
“What wasn’t picked up in the initial scan was that I had also suffered a fracture of the neck of the femur in my hip. That wasn’t identified until more than four months later.
“It explains why my recovery had been painfully slow. My rehab would have been very different if we knew about the fracture. But fractures are notorious for not showing up until weeks after the healing process has started so it was just unfortunate.
“So, I had started training about eight weeks ago but I was still experiencing some discomfort and pain. That’s when I got another scan which showed the stress fracture.
“I had to wait another few weeks after that before being given the all clear to start running again.”
Milton admits he is disappointed to be missing this weekend’s race, but is prepared to take a longterm view of his future.
He said: “I am disappointed not to be able to have another go at the Illuminator. But, I have only been training for a couple of weeks so I need to be sensible and sit it out and get some consistent training done before I race again.
“I’ll certainly be back to give it a go in the future but I’ll be keeping a close eye on this weekend to see if anyone breaks my record.”