14 June 2011

Steve Vernon (coach: Dave Turnbull) and Victoria Wilkinson won the inaugural UKA Mountain Running Championships in Keswick on Sunday 12 June, held in conjunction with the European Mountain Running Championships Trial and incorporating the second round of the McCain Mountain Running Challenge.

The senior men’s race – which tackled 1100m of ascent over 12.2km to the summit of Skiddaw – was one of the strongest ever domestic fields for an uphill race. 

Vernon, an experienced Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland mountain running and cross country representative, took an early lead from Andi Jones (coach: Bob Merrell) and the pair pulled well clear of the field with Nick Swinburn, over one minute behind, taking bronze.

In the women’s race over 8.9km with 900m of ascent, Wilkinson, also a seasoned mountain running internationalist, pulled through the field to take victory ahead of Lizzie Adams and Emma Clayton.

The junior titles went to up and coming Scottish athletes Garry Rankin (coach: Robert Hawkins) and Scout Adkin. 

Rankin, 15th in the WMRA Youth Mountain Running Challenge in Italy last year, won the 8.9km junior men’s race, Dominic Mahoney took silver in spite of a heavy fall near the top of the course, and bronze went to Jack Ross.

Adkin, 13th in the WMRA Youth Mountain Running Challenge event, had a fine run to win the junior ladies race over 3.8km with 395m of ascent, with Ffion Price and Beckie Taylor (coach: Jackie Taylor) taking silver and bronze respectively.

The Aviva GB & NI teams for the forthcoming European Mountain Running Championships in Turkey on Sunday 10 July will be announced later this week.