Maryburgh athlete cruises to victory at River Ness 10k in Inverness
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MARYBURGH athlete Sean Chalmers claimed victory in the River Ness 10K men's race for the first time in his career.
The PE teacher was 43 seconds clear of the chasing pack to cross the line first on Sunday winning in 30 minutes and 15 seconds.
Max Abernethy of Fraserburgh Running Club was second in 30:58 with Ewan Davidson of Moray Road Runners third in 31:24.
Chalmers said he adopted an attacking mentality in the race and was glad that it paid off.
"I did a warm up in the first two kilometres where I realised that it was really windy.
"I thought I would attack someone behind instead of being slowed up.
"I decided to go hard and hard enough that they would not attack me.
"I had a gap of 10 metres at the start and kept going the whole way so I was quite lonely."
However, Chalmers says the windy conditions did have an impact on how he performed during the race.
"The wind was a problem in the first two kilometres and then it got sheltered. "Then coming back to the bridge towards the end I thought that I might get under 30 minutes.
"But then I hit the wind and I knew that would not happen as I had nothing left in me as I was spent.
"So I decided to settle for the win.
"I am definitely in better shape than I was two years ago."
Chalmers finished in second place in the River Ness 10k in 2019 finishing in a time of 30:40.
Chalmers says he will now rest before going into the cross country season and also prepare for marathon running.
"I will take a few weeks off and go back into hard training.
"I might take part in the short course cross country in November and build up into that and then get into the marathon block after that."
