Greig hopeful ultra run can still go ahead

STAYING MOTIVATED: World record-holder Armand Duplantis, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie compete online

Kyle Greig was looking forward to cutting his teeth as a race director over the summer.

The Metro Aberdeen athlete has no intention of giving up on his competitive career any time soon but was keen to broaden his experience by taking on a new challenge.

Greig was to have taken on a lead role in organising the revamped Baker Hughes Aberdeen Running Festival at the end of August. But that event was an early casualty of the coronavirus pandemic and has been postponed until 2021.

Greig is nevertheless still clinging on to the hope that the other race he has been working on, the Speyside Way 37 mile ultra marathon, might still go ahead as planned on Saturday August 22.

He said: “I can’t wait too much longer before

“We could stop folk from gathering at the finish line”

making a decision as people will want to know what’s happening.

“Obviously it’ll depend on government guidelines about whether events can go ahead by then and what form they might take.

“We could look at doing it in a different way, perhaps with staggered starts so people aren’t running together. Or we could reduce the numbers taking part and prevent folk from gathering at the finish line.

“I also need to get the view of Forestry and Land Scotland as we need their permission to access part of the route between Ballindalloch and Buckie.

“I will, of course, conform with whatever the government decides is allowable if anything. If it can’t go ahead in August we could maybe look at a later date although by November there’s the risk of bad weather.”