Best of times for Brian despite tough test

Scotland international Fiona Brian sets herself such high standards that even a record-breaking performance in the women’s division of yesterday’s Fraserburgh half marathon left her feeling a little disappointed.

The Metro Aberdeen athlete, who set a personal best marathon time of 2hr 42min 51sec in Berlin in September, clocked 1:18:07 for the Broch course to finish fifth overall from a field of 242 runners.

That slashed 2:45 off the previous best women’s time set two years ago but is adrift of her personal best of 1:15:01 from London in March.

She said: “I actually found it quite tough, especially the off-road sections which were quite muddy.

“It was a bit like crosscountry running at times. I was disappointed with my time as I believed I was in better shape than that after my marathon performance in Berlin.

“I managed to stay with the leading guys for the first couple of miles as they started relatively slowly but once they picked up the pace I was on my own. It was quite a lonely run after that

“I found it tough, especially on the muddy off-road sections”

as no one was near me until maybe the final mile.”

Brian’s Metro clubmate Claire Bruce, who had won for the previous two years and previously held the course record, was runnerup in 1:23:15.

Fraserburgh’s Lisa Allan, who had finished second in 2017 and 2018, had to settle for third position on this occasion but was rewarded with a personal best time of 1:27:16. She was also first in the 40-49 age division.

There was more success for Metro Aberdeen in the age divisions with Ingrid Machell winning the age 5059 prize in 1:41:19 and Rosey Leiper taking the over-60s award in 1:54:51.

New mark: Women’s winner Fiona Brian