The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Oldham in fine form with Balmoral looming
international Kyle Greig (Metro Aberdeen) dropped out with an injury after having been in the leading pack until halfway.
Battle was delighted with his performance which made up for last year’s disappointment when a muscle injury forced the Robert Gordon University student to withdraw from the race while challenging eventual winner Alexander Chepelin.
He said: “I didn’t know Es but he set off quickly so I knew he was a decent runner. He was with Swaid, Kyle and I going up Mount Shade after about 3.5 miles.
“Things began to spread out up Clachnaben, at which point Es had a reasonable lead while I was third behind Swaid. I caught Swaid quite quickly on the descent which was quite technical as well as being wet, muddy and slippery.
“Then I started chasing Es but wasn’t making any ground until the last mile through the woods. He still had 15m on me until someone shouted there was 400m left and I decided to give it one last go. I finally got him in a sprint finish. It was certainly a hard-fought race and it’s a great confidence booster for me.”
Battle is now looking forward to further challenges in the season ahead and said: “I hope to be selected to represent East of Scotland in the Intercounties championships in England next month. Before that I’ll be in the Stuc a’Chroin race at Strathyre.
“It’s one of the events in the Scottish long distance classic race series which I aim to do this year. The others I’ll be doing are the Ben Rinnes, Ochil 2000 and Pentland Skyline races.
“I’ve also got the Dumyat hill race, which incorporates this year’s Scottish universities hill championships, and, in June, I’m targeting the Lairig Ghru race.”
Battle also hopes to make his mark on the Scottish hill running championship series after finishing seventh in the opening round at Chapelgill, Broughton in March.
He said: “That’s the first time I’ve finished in the top 10 at a Scottish championship series so I was really pleased with that one. Hopefully I can build on that as the year progresses.” Aberdeen’s Veronique Oldham warmed up for next weekend’s Trac 15-mile trail race at Balmoral Castle by winning the women’s 50 to 59 age group prize at the Clachnaben hill race.
The 51-year-old Cosmic Hillbashers club member, who was overall Clachnaben women’s champion in 2011, finished fourth behind open winner Steph Provan in 1hr 32min 06sec.
Oldham has an impressive record of consistency at Balmoral, having won the trail race in 2014 as well as finishing runnerup on four occasions over the past seven years and she’ll be aiming to at least maintain that sequence.
Katie Henderson (Deeside Runners) recorded 1:36:27 to finish first in the 40-49 age division at Clachnaben, while Jocelyn Scott (Fife AC) retained the over-60s title in 1:52:07.
Stefan Wagner (Cosmic Hillbashers) lifted the men’s 40-49 prize when
“Decided to give it one last go. I finally got him in a sprint finish”
“Oldham has an impressive record at Balmoral”
finishing eighth in 1:18:23.
Prolific hill racer Alan Smith (Deeside Runners) secured the 50-59 award when placing 11th overall in 1:20:57, while the 6069 prize went to Brian Brennan (Westerlands) in 1:51:24 and the over-70s to Rod Campbell (Cosmic Hillbashers) in 2:04:47.
Marie Entwistle (Deeside Runners) won the women’s prize at the Newtyle hill race near Dunkeld by completing the 7.8km course, which included 3,000m of climbing, in 41:33. Fife’s Hilary Ritchie was runner-up in 42:19.
Entwistle’s clubmate Stuart Pringle recorded 33:37 to finish second in the men’s race behind Carnethy’s John Hammond, who won in 31:48.
Perth’s Stuart Robertson won the over-40s prize when finishing third in 33:38 with Graeme Gatherer (Highland Hill Runners) second over-40, fourth overall, in 34:29. overall