When Shaun Cumming first ran in the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon, in 2014, he finished 622nd in a time of 3hr 51min 20sec.
Fast forward nine years and the Inverness athlete is now a serious contender to lead home a field of 5,100 runners – the second biggest number in the history of the race – when the 21st edition of Scotland’s oldest continuously held marathon takes place this Sunday.
He wasn’t too far away from winning last year, finishing strongly to take third position behind Corstorphine’s Dougie Selman and veteran Kenyan Isaiah Kosgei in a personal best time of 2:26:35.
And with these two absent this weekend, the Highland Hill Runners club member could be poised to claim the biggest win of his career.
Cumming said: “I don’t think there’s every been an Inverness winner of the Loch Ness Marathon, so it would be nice to do that, but we’ll have to see what happens.
“I feel I’m in about the same form as last year, so I’d like to run a similar time, or even a little quicker.
“I had hoped to be in better shape, but I missed a few months of training at the beginning of the year because of a persistent Achilles problem.
“However, my preparations have gone well in recent weeks.”
The 33 year-old NHS worker attributes the lockdown spell as being a pivotal period in transforming his running career.
He said: “I had been improving gradually beforehand, but during lockdown I started focussing much more on my running.
“I made a conscious effort to learn how to train properly by reading books and watching YouTube videos to improve my knowledge.
“That helped give more structure to my training and I began to do much better.”
Cumming has studied the entry list to search out his main rivals, and knows there’s always likely to be a few athletes capable of lifting the top prize.
London’s Carl Delaney is one of those who might have posed a challenge on the back of his best time of 2:23:39 set at last December’s Valencia marathon, but Cumming believes the Herne Hill club member won’t be making the trip north.
He said: “I’ve heard Carl won’t be running because his training hasn’t gone as well as he hoped.
“But there’s maybe one or two others who might be looking to finish high up. Adam Holland has entered and he could do well if he’s in good shape.”
Orkney-based Holland, who set his best time of 2:24:24 when finishing second at Loch Ness five years ago, is renowned for tackling some outlandish running challenges.
Only last month he won a competition in Italy which involved running 50k every day for 10 days.
However, he admits to being unsure as to what sort of time might be possible this weekend.
He said: “I ran a decent 10k recently, which suggests I’m in reasonable shape, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into a good marathon performance. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Kenyan athlete Isaiah Kosgei, winner in 2019 and runner-up 12 months ago, is unable to compete on this occasion and Spain’s Xavi Tomasa, who has a best time of 2:21:50, has also pulled out.
But Manchester’s Tom Charles, who was a late entrant, will be serious contender for the top prize. The Chorlton athlete was runner-up in this year’s Edinburgh Marathon where he recorded 2:22:56 – just 57secs outside his best set at Pulford, Cheshire in 2021. He also won the Rhodes marathon in April.
Matthew Sutherland, who competes for Central AC, also has the potential to do well if he is on song. The Thurso athlete has a best time of 2:24:49 from London in 2021 but hasn’t run any marathons since then.
Donaldson aiming for podium
Rosa Donaldson, a 23 year-old Glasgow University dentistry student, is one of the favourites to win the women’s race in the absence of Malta-based Aberdonian Jemima Farley who isn’t defending the title.
Donaldson, who comes from Banchory, was runner-up 12 months ago, recording a time of 2:57:01 in what was only her second marathon.
She has made big strides forward since then and earlier this year brought her time down to 2:44:34 when taking third spot in the Edinburgh marathon. Now she hopes to at least match that level of performance at Loch Ness.
She said: “I feel as though I’m in similar shape as I was for Edinburgh in May, so hopefully I can run as well as I did there.
“I had a little injury a few weeks ago but that has settled down and my preparations have gone well.
“I competed in the Great North Run earlier this month and I ran 1:24:06, which isn’t what I was aiming for, but the heat that day wiped me out. I’m always looking for a personal best time when I run, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes this weekend.
“Hopefully I can make the podium again.”
Donaldson has enjoyed a rapid rise through the marathon rankings, having taken up the sport as a means of keeping fit during the pandemic, then completing her first marathon at Edinburgh in May 2022 when she ran 3:05:32. Sunday’s race will be only her fourth over the distance.
She said: “I only got into running during Covid and decided to enter a marathon.
“I really enjoyed the training for it and decided just to keep going.
“I don’t have a coach but that’s something I might look into for next year.
“At the moment, I just make things up as I go along. On average I run about 80 miles a week, with a peak of around 100 miles.”
The biggest threat to Donaldson’s hopes is expected to come from London’s Melissah Gibson who has a best time of 2:43:42 set at Seville in 2022.
The Ealing Eagles club member is a prolific racer having competed in seven marathons already this year – at Milton Keynes,Seville, Copenhagen, Newport, London, Gold Coast and Edinburgh.
Her fastest time from that bunch came in the last mentioned race when she recorded 2:50:37 to finish in fifth position behind Donaldson.
In June, Gibson also competed in the iconic South African 88k Comrades marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, completing the course in 6:51:49 on a steaming hot day.
She’ll be hoping the resilience developed from these sorts of challenges will give her the strength to succeed this weekend.
Others expected to feature in the battle for podium positions include Michelle Thompson (North Shields) who finished fourth 12 months ago in a personal best 3:02:27, while Eyemouth’s Scotland hill running international Jill Mykura (Carnethy) will be looking to maintain her record of consistency in this race, having been a regular top five finisher over the past seven years.
Brussels-based Abi Konya, who is more of an ultra distance trail runner, could also make her presence felt as she bids for a sub three hour time.
Steven Burnside won’t be among the leading runners on Sunday, but the 47 year-old Inverness man will undoubtedly earn one of the biggest cheers of the day when he finishes as it will be his 10th marathon in 10 days.
The Highland Hill Runners club member planned to run over the course each day from last Friday to raise funds for mental health charity Mikeysline. It will also be the 10th time he has done the Loch Ness race, having first competed in 2009.
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