Athletics News

Catherine and Robbie land golds via Cateran Trail Ultra

Catherine and Robbie land golds via Cateran Trail Ultra

Wednesday 17th May 2023

Catherine Cowie on her way to gold in the Senior Women’s race at the Cateran Trail Ultra (photo by Calum Anderson)

KitST Results page

The 12th running of the 55 mile Cateran Trail Ultra took place last weekend and, for the first time, hosted the Scottish Ultra Championships.

The runners were greeted with a dry, wind free day at the race start in the Spittal of Glenshee.

Early pace was brisk as you would expect with Robbie Dunlop, Chris Richardson and Grant Jeans all leading the 136-strong field out along the mist shrouded glen.

First checkpoint at Kirkton of Glenisla (16 miles) was reached in 1:44 with Robbie holding a five-minute lead over Chris, Adam Gray and Paulius Peciura.

First female Catherine Cowie came through in 2:10 with Nicola Dawson and Deborah Warner five minutes behind.

Robbie went through Alyth (27 miles) in 3:11 having opened up a 10 minute gap over Chris, Adam and Paulius. In the women’s race Catherine was three minutes ahead of Deborah and Nicola with FV40 Lorna McMillan making a great return to ultras a further two minutes back.

By Blairgowrie (mile 31) the early mist had well and truly burnt off leaving a glorious sunny day in the high teens – great for the 30-strong marshalling team but making it a little more challenging for the runners.

Robbie and Catherine maintained their leads. Chris and Paulius continued to battle it out in the men’s race.  In the women’s race, Lorna had taken second place over Laura Brown in third.

The race then went through Bridge of Calley, along through the picturesque farmlands, forests and glens of the River Ardle through to Kirkmichael and the final checkpoint of Enochdhu at 51 miles.

Robbie had now opened up a 17-minute gap to Chris. Catherine was 13 minutes ahead of Lorna who was only two minutes ahead of third place Lesley Watson.

From Enochdhu the runners had the final climb up through the forest then onto the high path with endless views of Scotland at its wild and most wonderful best.

They follow the rolling grassy path to the Upper Lunch Hut then through the Laraig Gate at 648m before the final two-mile steep descent back into Spittal of Glenshee.

Robbie broke the tape at 7:49:08 nearly 30 minutes ahead of Chris in 8:14:59 followed in third by Paulius in 8:22:23.

Catherine finished her sensational race in 10:08:20, followed by Lorna in 10:17:00 and Lesley in 10:24:19.

There was 112 finishers in all each with their own tale…

CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at Scottish Athletics…