ENTRIES ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE 10TH YTHAN CHALLENGE!
ENTER HERE!
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Entries for the 2010 Ythan Challenge on
Sunday 27 June are now open! Please visit our
entries page for full
information about how to enter.
We’re planning to celebrate the tenth
running of the race in style — enter early to be sure of
your place as last year we were full by the end of March!
If you’re an Ythan regular, you’ll see that
our branding has changed. This is because Dominion Gas, our
main sponsor for the past four years, will not be supporting
us this year. We’d like to thank the Dominion Gas team for
their fantastic support and wish them the best of luck for
the future.
Because we don’t — as yet, anyway! — have
another main sponsor, we have had no alternative but to
increase the entry fee to £19 to ensure that we can mark the
event’s milestone and also continue to give back to the
local organisations that help make the Ythan Challenge such
a success.
The race is organised by the community
groups which benefit most from the event through an
organising committee comprising representatives from The
Meadows sports centre in Ellon — where the popular event
starts and finishes — and Ellon Rugby Club, Ellon FC, Ythan
Amateur Swimming Club, Ellon Ladies Hockey Club, the
Middleton Trust, and Ellon ATC.
ENTER HERE!
LOCAL MAN CRAIG THE WINNER!
LOCAL runner Craig Walker won the 2009 Dominion Gas Ythan
Challenge adventure race on 28 June, leading a field of 351
runners home on a humid morning in his first attempt at the
race.
Craig, 33, from Ellon, who finished in 47 mins and 45
seconds, only took up running a couple of years ago after
retiring as a Scotland badminton international. He said: “This
was my first Ythan Challenge, and I really enjoyed it. The hills
were very tough but I’ll definitely be coming back.”
Behind him was veteran David Armour, 48, who is based in
Stirling but runs for Forres Harriers, in a time of 48:27, with
Simon Nichol, 34, from Aberdeen, third in 49:05. Fourth in 49:12
was Metro Aberdeen runner and three-times winner Rob Taylor, 51,
who retained his male supervet’s crown. The first vintage male
was Forfar Road Runners’ David Douglas, 61, in a time of
1:08:16.
First woman home and 14th overall was 2005 winner Eleanor
Reid, 33, from Inverness, in a time of 52:33. She said: “It was
warm, really warm, but a great race. It’s a unique event, and
that’s why I came back – winning it again is a bonus! The hay
bales at the finish were a bit of a surprise, though – getting
over them right near the end was like climbing Everest.”
Behind her in 53:04 was Edinburgh AC runner Victoria Lomax,
31, who for the second consecutive year was runner-up, and
Amanda Blackhall, 39, from Fort William, third. She runs with
Lochaber AC and finished in 54:48. First veteran woman was
Janette Rainey, 43, who runs with Arbroath Footers in a time of
59:12, and first supervet woman in 1:10:08 was Ann Jessiman, 55,
proprietor of event sponsor The Running Shop.
The last runner came home in 1:59:47, and two dropped out.
The winning open team was the Metro Moaners, comprising Rob
Taylor, Keith Fraser and Malcolm Valentine; first corporate team
was Acergy NEC Highlanders (Kevin Tulloch, Andrew Crichton,
Farquhar Mitchell); and first uniform team was Grampian Police
Plod Squad (Stephen Morrison, Mildren Robertson, Stephen Cole).
The prizes were awarded by Dominion Gas managing director
Doug Crighton.
The 2009 race was the ninth consecutive running of the race,
from which all proceeds go back to the local youth groups which
benefit most from the event. Represented on the organising
committee are The Meadows sports centre in Ellon — where the
event starts and finishes — and Ellon Rugby Club, Ellon FC,
Ythan Amateur Swimming Club, Ellon Ladies Hockey Club, the
Middleton Trust, and Ellon ATC many of whose cadets acted as
marshals on the route.
The event as usual started and finished at the Meadows, with
runners setting off at 11am and then heading along the side of
the Ythan onto the beautiful Esslemont Estate, usually closed to
the public. Here the adventure really began, with a variety of
obstacles to slow down the runners and the river Ythan to
navigate before they head back.
For the first time this year, runners were confronted with a
further series of obstacles when they reached the Meadows,
making for a tough final sprint to the finishing line.
All runners received technical t-shirts for the first time in
2009. They were supplied by Mizuno through The Running Shop who
together also sponsored fantastic prizes for all the category
winners along with spot prizes. Also new was our partnership
with SportCam, a photography service run by runners and
specialising in covering running and cycling events. They had
two photographers covering the event, and runners can check out
their gallery for a lasting memento.
Organising committee chair Ann Howley said: “The race was
another great success, and we received lots of positive feedback
from those who took part. The weather stayed fine – if a little
warm for the runners – and there were only a few minor bumps and
bruises, along with a few trainers lost in one of the boggier
bits of the course! This year for the first time we had a supply
of spare trainers from the Meadows lost property box on hand!
“Next year will mark the tenth staging of the race, which
attracts runners from all over Scotland and further afield and
is still among the toughest of its kind. As a measure of its
growing popularity, the event was full by the end of March this
year, at least two months earlier than ever before.
“Our main sponsor was for the fourth consecutive year
Dominion Gas, whose generosity meant we could again use
Aberdeenshire Council’s excellent computer chip timing system to
separate the entrants into three waves. This once more reduced
bottlenecks on the course and we were also able to offer a swift
results service.
“We would like to offer our congratulations to all the
category winners and also give a huge vote of thanks to Dominion
Gas, to all our other sponsors and supporters, to Charles and
Angela Wolrige Gordon for allowing us to use Esslemont, and to
the many volunteers who helped out on the day.”
Our thanks for
making the 2009 event such a great success to:
> main
sponsor
Dominion Gas
>
The Running Shop
Aberdeen, and through them Mizuno
>
Dome,
for donating and maintaining this website
>
Sangs
of Banff, who for the ninth consecutive race provided our
runners with water on the course and at the finish line
> Costcutters of
Ellon for their continued support in providing goody bags
for all finishers
> Delicious of
Ellon for the eco-friendly paper goody bags
>
We’d also like to thank everyone else involved, in
particular Charles and Angela Wolrige Gordon for once again
allowing us to stage the event on the beautiful Esslemont
Estate.
Our thanks too to the following, in alphabetical order:
> George
Chalmers, for donating and delivering straw bales on the
Esslemont Estate
> HM Coastguard
Aberdeen, for organising the river obstacle
> Alan Irvine,
for donating and delivering the straw bales at The Meadows
> St Andrew’s
First Aid Grampian
> George
Stephenson, for the scaffolding on the Esslemont Estate
...and to everyone else who gave up their time to help in
the run-up and on race day.
Race
Sponsors:
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