Provan to the four with easy triumph

Scotland international Steph Provan was in commanding form when winning the women’s title for the fourth year in a row at the Clachnaben hill race on Saturday.

The Aboyne athlete completed the course in 1hr 22min 28sec to finish more than four minutes ahead of her closest challenger.

Louise Dytch was runner-up in 1:26:50 with Heather Anderson (Fife AC) third in 1:29:38. Provan’s time is the slowest of her four winning performances and was short of the record 1:17:40 she set 12 months ago but the Deeside Runners club member was not too concerned.

She said: “The conditions underfoot weren’t as bad as I expected, although it was very muddy. I thought it would be worse.

“Overhead it was beautiful but I was still a lot slower than last year, but conditions are always different. To be honest, I wasn’t pushing myself to the limit. I was just hoping to win so I probably didn’t work as hard as in previous years when it was either a championship race or when I was chasing the course record.

“So, I wasn’t quite motivated although I admit I’m possibly not quite as fit as I was last year.”

Provan will now turn her attention to a couple of other local races over the coming week.

She said: “I’m doing the 5km at Balmoral on Saturday as its always a good event. But before that, on Thursday evening, I might do the Scolty hill race at Banchory. It’s not ideal being just a couple of days before Balmoral but it’s another event I enjoy.” l Scotland international James Espie produced a solid performance to take seventh position in the 15.3km Mourne Highline British championship hill race in Northern Ireland. l

At the double: Hamish Battle and Steph Provan celebrate their Clachnaben race successes