Graham Bee put himself in pole position to lift the men’s title in this year’s Northern Scot 10km series by winning the second race in the competition at Elgin yesterday.
The Inverness doctor, who finished second behind Central AC’s John Newsom in the opening round at Nairn four weeks earlier, sped to victory in the Moray 10km in 33min 11sec and now leads the series with one race remaining, at Forres in May.
Bee finished 20sec ahead of his clubmate Dean Cunningham, while the 2013 winner, Gordon Lennox (Forres Harriers), had to settle for third position in 34:01.
Nairn’s Newsom did not run as he is preparing for next weekend’s Manchester marathon
Paul Rogan won the over-40 age group prize when finishing sixth overall in 34:30 from a field of 194, while Stan Mackenzie (Forres Harriers) was the leading over-50 finisher, eighth overall, in 35:18.
Jenny Bannerman returned from a spell of warm weather training in Tenerife to win the women’s prize for the second year in a row.
The Inverness Harriers recorded 36:44, which is just five seconds outside her best time set when winning at Nairn.
Bannerman is unsure as to whether she will compete in the third race of the series at Forres as it comes just three days after she is due to run in the Scottish 5km championships in Edinburgh.
Catriona Fraser (Inverness Harriers) was runner-up in 41:11 with Kirstie Rogan (Forres Harriers) finishing third in 41:53.
Rogan’s clubmate Hilary Cameron won the over-40’s award in 42:38 while Marion Lindsay (Metro Aberdeen) scooped the over-50’s prize in 44:45.
Ron Gauld set a personal best time of 9min 25sec to win the sixth and final race in the Aberdeen Winter Proms 3km series at the city’s beach esplanade.
The Stonehaven Running Club member finished 23 seconds ahead of David Marshall (Cosmic Hillbashers) with Greg Banks taking third position in 9:56.
As Gauld had not competed in any of the earlier rounds, the overall series title went to Aberdeen-based Stuart Milne (Fife AC) whose cumulative time of 29:33 from his best three performances gave him the top prize ahead of Banks (30:00) and Metro Aberdeen’s Steve Buchan (30:57).
Lucy McLeod (Aberdeen AAC) won the women’s race in 11:51 which gave her the overall junior prize.
Anita Hamilton (Cosmic Hillbashers) clinched the super-veteran age category prize when finishing second in 12:32 and Vivienne Bruce (Metro Abedeen) was third in 12:59 which gave her third position in the series.
The overall women’s title went to Jenny Bannerman (Inverness Harriers), who sat out the final race but won with a tally of 30:27, while Tammy Wilson (Garioch Road Runners) was runner-up with 32:06.
Gauld was back in action less than 24 hours later, setting another personal best time of 16min 1sec to win the latest Aberdeen Parkrun 5km. He finished well ahead of Aberdeen-based Stuart Macdougall (Bellahouston Harriers) who held off Andrew Blackhall by one second to take second position in 16:58. Both men’s times were also the quickest they have recorded in the Parkrun series.
Naomi Lang, a third year pupil at Aberdeen Grammar, became the youngest winner of a race in the women’s series when finishing sixth overall from a field of 248.
It was the Aberdeen AAC member’s first Parkrun appearance and her time of 18:26 is the eighth fastest by a woman in the 132 races held in the weekly competition. Lang, 13, finished ahead of another teenager, Jennifer Ricketts (Deeside Runners), who was just two seconds outside her best when clocking 19:51, while Sarah Hodgkinson was third in 20:37.