Wiltshire-based north-east runner Stuart Henderson led from the start to win the Christmas Day Aberdeen Parkrun 5km in fine style.
The Corsham Running Club member made light of a strong southerly wind on the second half of the course to post a time of 18min 32sec.
It was Henderson’s fourth win in seven appearances in the Aberdeen Parkrun series, although he has also won his local event, at Southwick country park in Trowbridge, on 16 occasions. His best Parkrun time is 17:12 recorded in 2011.
Henderson said: “I’m from Aberdeen originally but I’ve been based with the Army in Trowbridge for about seven years.
“I try to do the Aberdeen Parkrun every time I’m back up here to visit family.
“I’m in training at the moment for the Boston marathon in April so, I’ll be doing a total of 10 miles running today including the race.
“My best marathon time is 2hr 44min which I set at London this year, but I’m aiming for around 2hr 40min when I go to Boston.
“I’ll also be coming back up to Scotland to do next year’s Moray marathon.”
Henderson plans to take part in next week’s New Year’s Day Aberdeen Parkrun.
Aberdeen’s Debbie Moore was just 10sec outside her best Parkrun time when recording 19:20 to finish as the leading woman in second position overall. It was her seventh win in 16 Parkrun appearances and set her up for a pleasant Christmas dinner.
She said: “I chose to run because it’s a good excuse for me to be able to eat as much as I’d like afterwards.
“It’s good training as I’m planning to do the Manchester and Edinburgh marathons next year in an attempt to get my best time down to under three hours.
“I’ve heard both of these are fast courses, so that sounds good.”
Moore’s best marathon performance came in Rome last March where she recorded 3:16:57.
She added: “I’ll also probably take part in the Inverness half marathon in March and I’d really like to get a time of 1:23.00.
“I might also do next week’s Detox 10km at Lumphanan. I’ve never actually raced in a 10km before so that would be interesting.”
Chris Langton, an Aberdeen-based City of Norwich AC runner, was third in 19:23.
Alford’s Carolyn Milne, who has won the women’s division of the Parkrun 21 times, was next home in 19:43 while Adam Scragg (Metro Aberdeen), on his 60th appearance, was fifth in 19:45.
Jennifer Murray set her fastest time of 21:56, an improvement of 16sec on her previous best, when taking third position in the women’s division of the race when finishing in 11th position overall.
Colin Burnett and Graham McDermid, both making their 101st Parkrun appearances, were first and second in the over-50 men’s age group with respective times of 22:04 and 23:39.
Callum Tooth led home the men’s over-55s in 22:42 while Vivienne Lain was top in the women’s over-45 age group in 23:17.