Naomi Lang will put aside her mountain running instincts as she strives for success in Sunday’s Inverness half marathon.
Aberdonian Lang is a Great Britain mountain running international – but began her athletics career as a teenager with Aberdeen AAC, where she was coached by Andrew Ferguson.
She went on to study at Edinburgh University and is now based in Glasgow, where she runs with Cambuslang Harriers while retaining membership of Carnethy Hill Running Club.
While hill racing has only become a serious pursuit in recent years, Lang says her family’s fondness for the outdoors – and particularly the Cairngorms – has stuck with her from an early age.
The 25-year-old said: “Through university I was still doing mostly track and cross-country, but through all of that I enjoyed being in the hills.
“During Covid, I did a lot more hill running, and after that I started doing more racing.
“My family, and most of my friends, are very outdoor people.
“It’s what we do in our spare time and in all forms – whether it be running, cycling, walking or climbing.
“Growing up in Aberdeen, we went to the Cairngorms most often.
“Being in Glasgow now, a lot of the west coast stuff is a lot closer, which is nice.”
European gold with GB came during ‘whirlwind’ year
Lang enjoyed success at last year’s European off-road championships, where she combined an individual fifth-placed finish with being part of the GB & NI team who claimed gold.
Reflecting on that success, former Aberdeen Grammar School pupil Lang added: “Last year felt like a bit of a whirlwind. I had been injured through two winters, and barely raced.
“I was just getting back to running when the trials for Europeans were coming up.
“I went into them with no expectations at all, but I made the team which I was really surprised about.
“When I went to the Euros I performed much better than I expected, which led to a few opportunities in the summer which I had not expected in March or April.
“A lot of the time I went into the races without any pressure on myself, and I was just having a good time.”
Inverness half the next pursuit for Lang
Following that success, Lang’s confidence is high as she turns her attention to road running ahead of the Inverness half marathon, which celebrates its 40th edition on Sunday.
Lang’s only previous half marathon came in Edinburgh two years ago, when she finished second with a time of 1:16:12.
She had been due to compete in the Seville half marathon earlier this year – only for Storm Eowyn to put paid to her travel plans.
While Lang is hopeful ahead of this weekend, she acknowledges the strength of the Inverness field, with Nancy Scott and Kirsty Walker of Edinburgh AC among those also expected to challenge.
Lang said: “I was supposed to do the Seville half marathon at the end of January, but it was the weekend of the really bad red weather warning. I never managed to leave Glasgow.
“For a half marathon, that has maybe been a bit of a blessing.
“I had some Achilles issues towards the end of last year, so I had only just got going with the half training – but I have managed to get some good stuff in since then.
“I have done a half before, but it was on a bit of a whim.
“I was keen to see what could happen with doing a bit of training for it.
“I think the field in Inverness will be quite strong. I will focus on trying to run my own race, rather than my position, and I will see where that takes me.”
Meanwhile, Central AC’s Jamie Crowe is the fastest man in men’s field for the Inverness half, with a personal best of 1:4:19.
Aberdeen AAC’s Sean Chalmers – the Inverness winner in 2022 – is another contender and gave himself a major boost last weekend by overcoming extremely windy conditions to win the Nairn 10k in a course record time of 30:03.
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