HILL RUNNER KEVIN CROWNED TENTH YTHAN CHALLENGE WINNER

The winner of the 2010 Duncan and Todd Opticians Ythan Challenge on 27 June — the tenth staging of the race — was Kevin Harper, from Aberdeen in a time of 48 minutes and 47 seconds.

Kevin, 32, a hill running specialist and member of Cosmic Hillbashers, also headed up the winning team — the Cosmic Comics.

Second was Greg Simpson, 32, of Perth Road Runners, in a time of 50:39, and third — and first veteran — was Neil Manson, 41, who lives in Aberdeen and runs with Aberdeen AAC, in a time of 51:27.

First woman home was veteran and two times previous winner Elaine Whyte, 41, of Fetterangus, who runs with Fraserburgh Running Club. Her time was 54:59. Behind her was Carnegie Harriers runner Judith Turner, 37, from Newmills, Fife, in a time of 56:31, and third home was Pamela Tosh, 34, of Aberdeen, a member of Aberdeen AAC.

First super-veteran male was Metro Aberdeen runner Phil Cowie, 55, of Aberdeen, in a time of 54:29, and first vintage male was Willie Watson, 65, from Rothienorman, in a time of 1:07:02.

The first supervet woman was Isabel Stuart, 51, from Peterhead, who runs with Peterhead Running Club, in a time of 1:09:23, and first vintage woman was Metro Aberdeen runner Elly McKay, 60, from Milltimber, in a time of 1:13:03.
Winning uniform team was the Ellon Firees and Bobbies and the first corporate team was Clarjo.

Full results here.

The runners started and finished at the Meadows Sports Centre in Ellon as usual, and the route took them onto the Esslemont Estate where race organisers had a surprise in store for regulars — an extra 1km of running, taking the course to just over 11k, and some new obstacles!

One surprise the organisers hadn’t bargained for was the Coastguard team assisting at the river section of the course being called away to respond to an emergency on the River Dee just as the race got under way. This placed the river Ythan — which gives the event its name — out of bounds for health and safety reasons, with runners staying dry rather than dropping down into the river and heading upstream for about 100 metres as in previous years.

Ann Howley, chair of the Ythan Challenge Organising Committee, said: “This is the first time in the history of the race that our runners weren’t able to tackle the river, but when we explained what had happened everyone understood why we had to put the water out of bounds.

“Fortunately, the famous Esslemont bog was in good shape, with several runners losing their shoes once again. We now keep a stock of spares — trainers from the Meadows lost property box — at the bog to help those who get caught out.”

Mrs Howley added: “The race continues to attract runners from all over Scotland and even further afield and is still among the toughest of its kind in the UK. We attract entrants of all abilities — from elite athletes to fun runners, many of them running for charity.

“And the race is going from strength to strength — this year entries opened in January and closed within three weeks, a new record, and even though we set up a standby list as well, we still ended up having to turn runners away.”

Sponsoring the race for the first time this year was Duncan and Todd Opticians, whose North Area regional manager Adam Murray presented the prizes to the winners.

“Duncan and Todd’s generosity meant we could for the third year use Aberdeenshire Council’s excellent computer chip timing system to separate the entrants into three waves, which reduces bottlenecks on the course and allows us to provide a swift results service.

“We would as always like to offer our congratulations to all the category winners and also give a huge vote of thanks to Duncan and Todd opticians, 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.”

All proceeds from the 2010 Duncan and Todd Ythan Challenge will go back to the local youth groups that help organise the event. Represented on the organising committee are The Meadows Sports Centre, Ellon Rugby Club, Ythan Amateur Swimming Club, Ellon Ladies Hockey Club, the Middleton Trust, and 1990 Ellon Sqn Air Cadets, many of whom act as marshals on race day.

The last runner crossed the line in 2 hrs 11 minutes, there were 356 finishers, and no injuries.

The first Ythan Challenge was staged on 24 June 2001 and there were 71 finishers. Among them were six runners who also took part in the 2010 race — women’s winner Elaine Whyte, vintage woman Elly McKay, leading men’s supervet Phil Cowie, Gordon McCulloch, Izzie McDonald, and Craig Nicol. We hope to see you all again next year!

BIG THANKS TO OUR 2010 SPONSORS!

Our thanks to main sponsor Duncan and Todd Opticians for supporting us in 2010, and also to:

• Talisman Energy (UK)

• McIntosh Plant Hire

• J M Taylor Ltd

• The Chocolate Bar, Ellon

• The Running Shop, Aberdeen

• Dome Website Design

And our continued thanks to Charles and Angela Wolrige Gordon for allowing us to use Esslemont for this the tenth consecutive event.

Also to:

• Sangs of Banff, who for the tenth 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

And (in alphabetical order):

• George Chalmers, for donating and delivering straw bales on the Esslemont Estate

• HM Coastguard Aberdeen, for organising the river obstacle (even though they had to leave us!)

• Alan Irvine, for donating and delivering the straw bales at The Meadows

• St Andrew’s First Aid Grampian

• Grant Smith, for his excellent race day commentating

• ...and to everyone else who gave up their time to help in the run-up and on race day.

More about our main sponsor here.

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