Banchory’s Scotland international runner Robbie Simpson hopes some Portuguese sunshine will set him up for a fast half marathon in Spain in the new year.
But the 2018 Commonwealth Games marathon bronze medallist is keeping his fingers crossed that his plans aren’t scuppered by any new constraints on foreign travel as a result of the pandemic.
Simpson intends spending a few weeks training at the resort of Monte Gordo in the Algarve before hopping across the border for the Seville half marathon at the end of January.
He said: “That’s the plan but I’ll have to wait until early in the month to see what the travel situation looks like.
“I guess there’s also a question mark over whether the half marathon will be able to go ahead in Seville. It’s a massive event with thousands of runners, so I’m not sure if it can be held in that format.
“I hope it can, because I’d really like to get a good road race under my belt.”
Simpson will be aiming to attack his half marathon personal best time of 1hr 4min 27secs set at Inverness in 2018.
If all goes well, that should be within his grasp as he showed good form earlier this week after taking a break from the Christmas festivities to compete in the Tilli 10k road race at Tillicoultry.
Simpson ran 50 seconds quicker than his winning time over the Clackmannanshire course three years earlier, but had to settle for second position, finishing four secs behind Cambuslang’s Ryan Thomson who won in 29:46.
There was a big gap to Fergus Roberts (Ochil Hill Runners) who was third in 30:21.
Simpson said: “I’m pretty happy with that as I was looking for anything under 30mins. We were neck-and-neck for most of the second half of the race.
“He put in a series of surges but I was always able to catch him again until with about 500m to go he opened a gap which I couldn’t quite close.
“It was a bit frustrating as there were a few sharp corners with about 150m to go, so it was impossible to make up much ground at that point.
“But overall, it was a good race and I’m satisfied with the result.
“I was glad Ryan was there because some of the other guys who were meant to be competing, like Jamie Crowe, Grant Sheldon and Sean Chalmers didn’t show up for one reason or another.
“But it was still a competitive race, which was good. The course is great as it’s slightly uphill on the way out, then slightly downhill on the return journey.
“So the splits for the second 5k were much quicker than the first. And conditions were ideal, with a slight wind at our backs in the second half.”
Simpson’s schedule undecided due to travel uncertainty
Aside from the uncertainty over his plans for January, Simpson is also unsure what direction to take beyond that.
He said: “My main goal for the year is one of the races at the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc festival in August. It will be either the CCC 55k which I did this year, 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 in California in April but again there might be travel difficulties.
“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.”
Simpson wasn’t the only north-east athlete to feature on the Tilli 10k prize list as three Metro Aberdeen members featured prominently among the age division awards.
Allan Christie, winner of the Bennachie and Dava Way 50k trail races, finished third in the men’s 40-44 age band with a personal best time of 33:32. That’s three minutes faster than his previous best set at the Aberdeen Baker Hughes race in 2018.
Hazel Wyness, 42:39, was runner-up in the women’s 40-44 age division while Claire Smith, 45:57, took second spot in the 50-54 band.
The 2019 Run Balmoral 5k race winner Morag Millar (Central AC) was a clear overall winner of the women’s division of the race in a course record 34:04. The Scotland international cut 51 seconds off the previous mark set by Fife’s Annabel Simpson in 2019.