Robbie has high hopes of racing in Austria

If the 2020 London Marathon is cancelled, Banchory’s Robbie Simpson hopes some mountain races might still be held this year.

Aside from being one of Britain’s leading marathoners Simpson is a top-class mountain runner, having been world championship bronze medallist in 2015.

Last summer he was seventh in the European championships, helping GB win team gold for the first time. He also won the prestigious Jungfrau marathon for the third time in four years.

Simpson has not raced since March as all events have been cancelled because of the lockdown here and overseas.

He said: “I had hoped that some of the Swiss mountain races might have been on, but the Jungfrau marathon has been cancelled.

“There still appear to be some races scheduled for September in Austria where they seem to be more relaxed about allowing events to go ahead. So, I could maybe do one or two of these if there’s no London marathon to prepare for.

“But while these races are on I’m still not sure how easy it will be to travel by then.

“It’s not easy to train specifically for these events either. Normally I’d spend quite a bit of time training in Switzerland prior to competing, but that’s not possible at the moment.”

Simpson is keeping his fingers crossed there may be some racing opportunities closer to home.

He said: “I’m hopeful that the Lairig Ghru race might still happen at some time before the end of September. The organisers are waiting for a window when the rules might allow it to go ahead. They said they would give runners four weeks’ notice, so we’ll just have to wait.”