Top Scotland international road, mountain and trail runner Robbie Simpson is still trying to piece together his racing plans for 2022 as the pandemic continues to cause uncertainty over possible travel restrictions across the world.
The Deeside athlete made his mark on the international ultra distance trail running scene this year when finishing second behind fellow Brit Jon Albon in the classic Ultra Trail Mont Blanc CCC 55k race and seventh,again behind Albon, in the Grand Trail Des Templiers 80k.
Simpson is keen to continue testing himself in these types of event and has pencilled in a possible trip to California in April for the Lake Sonoma 80k, but is worried about any late cancellation.
He said: “My main goal for the year is one of the races at the UTMB. It will be either the CCC 55k again, or possibly the OCC 100k. Which one I decide to do will depend to some extent on getting a good long trail race under my belt in the Spring.
“I’ve been looking at the Lake Sonoma one but it would be very expensive as I’d need to go out a month beforehand. I’d probably be able to reclaim the costs from sponsors if I did it, but if I couldn’t go because of any covid restrictions I probably wouldn’t be able to get the costs back.
“An easier solution might be to stay close to home and do the Highland Fling 53 mile race between Milngavie and Tyndrum.It’s a similar distance and hopefully it will be a decent standard of field as it’s the Scottish championships.
“There’s also some races in Spain around that time, so that’s another option if travel restrictions allow.
“I just want to nail a good 50 miler to see if this distance works for me. I haven’t really cracked it yet so I don’t want to spend a lot of time on these races if I can’t do them at a high level.”
Before that, Simpson has his eye on testing himself over the half marathon distance on the road with a view to improving on his best time of 1:04:27 set at Inverness in 2018.
He said: “I’m planning to run in the Seville half marathon on January 30. I’ll go out to Monte Gordo in Portugal a couple of weeks beforehand, then it’s just a short journey to Seville.
“It gives me something to focus on between the end of one trail running season and the start of the next. I’m desperate to run on the roads again. It’s not so easy to train in the hills here at this time of year anyway.
“After Seville I’d be keen to do the Fetteresso Forest marathon near Stonehaven as a training run in the build-up to the longer trail races. I’m waiting to hear if it has been given the go ahead.”
Commonwealth Games not likely to be an option for Simpson
Banchory’s Robbie Simpson has confirmed it’s highly unlikely that he’ll be throwing his hat into the ring for a place on the Scotland team for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
The 30 year-old, who has been a top class mountain runner throughout his athletics career, made a massive road running breakthrough at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games when he picked up the bronze medal in the marathon.
And earlier this year he finished sixth in the Great Britain Olympic trials at Kew Gardens.
But Simpson has always had a greater affinity with off-road events and over the past few years he has moved more towards ultra distance trail racing.
He said: “I’m not really tempted by the Commonwealth Games. It’s in August so the timing isn’t good for me as I’d have to miss the whole of the trail running season, which I’m not keen to do. The main trail races I’m focussing on are in August and I’d also like to do one in June.
“But, I’m running the Seville half marathon at the end of January and I suppose if I ran a really fast time there, and it turned out that I wouldn’t be able to get to the big trail races, then I might be tempted to try a marathon.”
If Simpson was to change his mind, he wouldn’t have time on his side as the deadline for achieving the qualifying standard of 2hr 15min 12secs expires on February 28.
So far, no Scottish men have achieved the required mark.
Paris or Tillicoultry as 2021 finale
Commonwealth Games marathon bronze medallist Robbie Simpson will choose between Paris and Tillicoultry as the setting for his final race of the year.
The Banchory-based runner is keen to compete in the Corrida De Houilles 10k on the outskirts of the French capital on Boxing Day. He has fond memories of the course as it is where he set his current personal best time of 29min 22secs five years ago but he feels ready to improve on that performance.
His partner Ginie Barrand comes from France so they would also take the opportunity to visit her family during the trip. Barrand, who set a PB 35:29 when winning the Back to Basics 10k at Forres in July, also intended to compete in Paris, but that’s in doubt because of a foot injury.
However, Simpson is concerned about possible travel restrictions which could result in a change of plan.
He said: “We are only going to France for six days so if we ended up having to self isolate for 10 days on our return, there would be no point.
“If we feel it’s not a good idea to go then I can always do the Tilli 10k at Tillicoultry on December 27.”
Simpson won the inaugural Tilli race in 2018 when posting a time of 30:44. The following year, Central AC’s Jamie Crowe, who made his Great Britain debut at last weekend’s European cross country championships in Dublin,finishing 24th, took the course record down to 29:18.
Crowe has signed up again and the capacity field of 500 also includes Sean Chalmers (Inverness Harriers), Lachlan Oates (Shettleston Harriers) and James Donald (Dundee Hawkhill).