Aberdeen’s David Vernon powered his way to victory in the Scottish universities and colleges cross-country championships in the Granite City on Saturday with a fine performance which showcased the strength and speed which has earned him international honours.
The third-year medical student was engaged in a cat-and-mouse race with Stirling’s Grant Sheldon until the final kilometre of the 10km course around the Balgownie playing fields.
Vernon, 20, then shifted into a higher gear and by the end the Aberdeen runner had more than 70m of a lead, completing the testing grassland course in 29min 53sec to win by 14sec. He becomes only the fifth Aberdeen University runner in more than 60 years to win the title .
Vernon, who has represented Great Britain and Scotland in junior internationals over the past couple of seasons, was proud to join that small group of champions.
He said: “I’m really pleased to give Aberdeen a win. I haven’t had too many chances to compete for the university so it’s good to be able to come out and do it for them.
“I’ve had a lot of help with my sports bursary and by being included in the Hydrasun athletics academy, so at least I feel I’ve now given something back.
“I’ve had an inconsistent season for one reason or another. Even in the last couple of days before this race I was feeling a bit flat so I wasn’t sure how it would work out.”
Third-placed Tom Martyn led Edinburgh to the team title for the seventh year in a row, while runner-up Sheldon helped Stirling take silver.
Vernon added another medal to his collection when Aberdeen collected the bronze medals, the other scorers being James Joy (19th), Sam Burgess (20th) and Chris Ponton (21st).
Glasgow University’s Lauren Quee , 22, stormed through the field in the closing stages to win the women’s 6km race held over a two-lap course.
The fourth-year psychology student, who comes from Belfast, admitted to being as surprised as anyone by her success.
She said: “I had no idea how I might get on. I’ve never taken part in these championships before and I don’t really do much cross-country running. I prefer road races.
“But I got into the lead about midway through the final lap and I just kept it going from there to the finish.”
Shetlander Katie Bristow, a social sciences student at Glasgow Caleldonian University, was five seconds behind in the silver-medal position, while Inverness athlete Mhairi MacLennan led Edinburgh to the team title for the third year in a row when finishing a further 6sec down.
Bristow picked up another medal when joining forces with Rachael Bushfield (10th) and Thurso’s Oonagh Dunnett (17th) in the Glasgow Caledonian side which won team bronze.
The Aberdeen trio of Rebecca Hay (20th), Isla Scott-Pearce (29th) and Lauren Craig (31st) just missed the medals when finishing in fourth position.