Inverness Harriers’ Mhairi Maclennan will have her sights on the Scottish women’s title at the Inverness half marathon on Sunday.
Current women’s champion Natasha Phillips from Dundee Hawkhill Harriers – who ran 1:11.56 last year to set a new course record – will miss this year’s event, as she is competing in Nottingham at the Great Britain team trial for the world cross-country championships in Belgrade later in the month.
Hopes of a stirring head-to-head between the two athletes have been dashed, but Maclennan has been battling health issues which have prevented her from racing in recent months and is keen to test herself during the Highland race.
Maclennan’s half marathon personal best of 1:11.18 was recorded in Copenhagen last September and places her ninth on the Scottish all-time list.
She said: “In the autumn I was really ill with respiratory problems and I had to take medication to detox my body from mould spores which came from the flat I was living in. Fingers crossed that’s sorted the problem as I’ve been struggling with it.
“I started training again in December and everything has gone well since then. I had a little run out in the London Winter 10k a couple of weeks ago and that went very well.
“I started off at half marathon pace and built up from there. In the end, I was only about 20 seconds outside my PB, but I felt very relaxed and chilled.”
Despite those health factors, Edinburgh-based Maclennan is one of the top Inverness half marathon contenders this weekend.
However, Metro Aberdeen’s Ginie Barrand will also be in attendance after the Banchory runner placed third with a time of 1:14.00 last year.
Barrand said: “Training has gone as well as it could have done over the past few weeks, and if the weather is favourable on Sunday, I’d like to think I can go a little faster than last year.
“My training is geared for the Copenhagen marathon in May – but I’m not treating Inverness as a training run. I’m certainly going to be racing hard.
“It’s good that Mhairi is doing it and I’ll just try to keep her in sight for as long as possible.”
Barrand will be supported by Claire Bruce and Nicola MacDonald in a strong Metro Aberdeen squad aiming to retain the national team title.
Inverness half marathon race director Malcolm Sutherland said: “We are proud to be hosting both the Scottish and North District championships once again this year, which adds a bit of extra spice to the proceedings.
“It will be interesting to see if Mhairi Maclennan can break the excellent course record set by Natasha Phillips in 2023, while any one of a number of runners could threaten Robbie Simpson’s 2018 men’s record of 1:04.27.”
Fraser Stewart aims to improve career-best time against strong Inverness half marathon
On the men’s side, current Scottish title-holder Fraser Stewart, of Cambuslang, looks to defend his crown this weekend after running a career-best 1:05.24 in the Inverness half marathon last March, and thinks he can “run a similar time to last year, maybe even a bit quicker.”
Stewart’s teammate Ryan Thomson is still recovering after taking seventh in the Napoli half marathon two weeks ago with a PB of 1:04.40, but another Cambuslang athlete Michael Christoforou hopes to improve on his 2022 best time of 1:05.41.
Aberdeen Amateur Athletic Club’s Michael Ferguson ran a PB of 1:06.23 when finishing fifth in Inverness 12 months ago, while clubmate Sean Chalmers is also expected to be competitive. The 2022 men’s champion ran 1:04.22 elsewhere the same year.
Ferguson and Chalmers will join forces with Myles Edwards in a strong Aberdeen AAC side hoping to take top spot in the team competition.
With the Scottish North District championships also incorporated into this year’s race, James Wilson of Moray Road Runners, winner of last weekend’s Nairn 10k, is one of the favourites to win this prize.
Sunday’s Inverness half marathon has attracted a capacity entry of 2,940 runners, with an additional 1,300 taking part in the accompanying 5k.
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