Gollan poised to defend his hill run title

Scotland international Ross Gollan will tomorrow defend his title in one of the oldest hill runs on the north circuit.

The Knockfarrel race at Strathpeffer, was first held in 1960 and has enjoyed a colourful history over the past six decades during which it has attracted many of the country’s top hill runners.

The course has changed numerous times, and on one occasion it had to be altered after a landowner allegedly threatened to shoot any runners crossing his land.

Gollan will hope not to face any such dangers this weekend when he lines up to tackle the 8km course which includes a climb of 360m.

His winning time last year, 38min 5secs, was a little adrift of the record 37:24 set by Graeme Bartlett 19 years ago.

Gollan has, however, been in good form, and last weekend won the senior men’s race at the North District cross country league meeting in Evanton.

He said: “I’m looking forward to doing it as it’s a good little race. I’m not sure who else is going to be there although there has been a rumour that Finlay Wild (10-time Ben Nevis race winner) might be coming along

“My brother Eoghann is also going to run now he has recovered from a heel injury.

“It will be my last hill race of the season and after this I’ll be concentrating on cross country.

“I’ll miss the next league race but I plan to do all the others. I’ll also do the North championships in December as that looks like it could be very competitive this year. I’m also going to do the inter districts at Stirling in January and the national champs at Falkirk in February.”