Banchory’s Robbie Simpson admits he’s unsure as to how well he might perform in Switzerland’s prestigious Sierre-Zinal race tomorrow.
This will be the Great Britain international’s ninth appearance in the famous mountain run which has once again attracted a world class field of competitors.
The 31km race, which includes 2,200 metres of climbing and 800 metres of descent, is held along a stunning route within the shadow of five 4,000m spectacular mountain peaks, the most famous being the Matterhorn.
Despite coming close on a number of occasions, Simpson has yet to take top spot on the podium.
He was fifth in 2019 after finishing runner-up for each of the three years before that.
The Deeside athlete also took fifth position in 2013 and 2014, and was 35th on his debut in 2011.
While the race is normally one of his main targets on his annual programme, that’s not the case on this occasion as he is instead prioritising the 55k Orsières-Champex-Chamonix (OCC) ultra trail run at the end of the month.
Simpson has been based in Chamonix for the past three weeks where he is training specifically for the OCC.
He said: “I really don’t know how I’ll get on at Sierre-Zinal because I’ve had a totally different build-up compared with previous years.
“I haven’t really had any hard races on which to judge how well or otherwise I’m going. It would have been good to have had at least one high intensity race, but that hasn’t been possible.
“In previous years I’ve sometimes done seven or eight races of different distances in the lead up to Sierre-Zinal.
“My training hasn’t been the same either, because I’m preparing for OCC which is a very different type of race. I’ve been doing a lot of uphill work but no speedwork on the flat.
“So I should be strong on the climbs at Sierre-Zinal, but there’s also a lot of fast running on the course, so I’m not sure how I’ll get on with that.
“I see this weekend’s race as part of my preparation for OCC, but I’ll still be giving it a go. I’m keen to find out how well I can do on the downhill stages towards the end, as that’s a part of the course I’ve struggled with in the past.
“I’ve tapered a bit for it, so we’ll see what happens. It might be the case that I’m fresher for it than in the past, so we’ll see.”
The legendary Spanish athlete Kilian Jornet is favourite to add to his seven previous victories. In 2019 he set a new course record time of 2:25:35.
The 2019 runner-up, a reinstated drugs offender from Eritrea, is also in the line-up.
Simpson said “They will be difficult to beat but there are others such as Switzerland’s Remi Bonnet and the American Hayden Hawks.
“It’s always a classy field but I think this year’s is probably the best there has been.”
Ivory adds name to LEJOG challenge
Interest in the Land’s End to John o’Groats world championship race is gathering momentum with Brora’s Luke Ivory among a growing list of ultra runners keen to take up the challenge.
Promoter Will Cockerell has challenged athletes to run the 800-plus miles anytime from now until next November with the fastest two men and women potentially sharing a prize pot of £100,000.
Ivory has thrown his hat into the ring after bursting onto the national ultra distance scene last month when he set a remarkable record time for running the North Coast 500.
The 38-year-old care worker completed the route in five days 23 hours 4 mins and is now keen to test himself in the End-to-End run.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s Paul Giblin will this weekend set off on his own version of the LEJOG challenge. But he is not taking the fastest or most direct route.
Giblin plans to make the journey on trails rather than roads and has mapped out a 1,215 mile course taking in well known routes such as the South West Coastal Path,the Pennine Way, the West Highland Way and the Cape Wrath Trail.
The End-to-End trail aims to join up as much of Britain’s high ground as possible meaning that Giblin will run over 52,000m of positive ascent along the way. That’s almost six-times the height of Mount Everest.
His aim is to set a bench-mark record for the route and hopes to complete it in less than 30 days.
Strong competition for Glenshee race
Dufftown athlete Jill Stephen aims to extend her lead in the women’s division of the Scottish hill running championship series this weekend when she runs in the Glenshee 9 race.
The Hunters Bog Trotters club member tops the points table after her win in the opening fixture at Dollar last month.
She won the women’s national title in 2018 and 2019 but was unable to extend that sequence last year as the competition was suspended because of the pandemic.
Stephen has familiarised herself with the Glenshee course which takes in a 20 mile route including 5,500m of climbing over nine Munros.
Steph Provan (Deeside Runners), the women’s series champion in 2016 and 2017, makes a return to action after a lengthy absence.
Aberdeen’s Veronique Oldham (Cosmic Hillbashers), who has won the over-50 women’s series title for the past four seasons, will also run after finishing second behind Angela Mudge (Ochil) at Dollar.
James Espie (Deeside Runners) and Hamish Battle (Metro Aberdeen) will compete in the men’s race in which former Inverness athlete Joe Symonds (Shettleston Harriers) will bid to repeat the victory he enjoyed in round one at Dollar.
A quality field of 300 runners have signed up for the event.
There are three more races in the championship series – Eildon 3 Hills (September 18), Two Breweries (September 25) and Cioch Mor (October 9).