Scots land team podium places at World Mountain and Trail Champs

Sunday 11th June 2023

Scout Adkin, Alice Goodall, Holly Page and Phillipa Williams in Austria

Eight Scottish athletes represented GB and NI at the World Mountain and Trail Champs in Austria in what became a very successful event for the British teams.

Scout Adkin led the way for the Scots with two more global medals to add to her collection.

Scout was the first Brit home in the Uphill Race to lead the team to bronze medals and then she was just behind Alice Goodall as the Scots made a big contribution to silvers for the women’s team in the up and down race on Saturday.

‘I am really pleased with the team silver medals in the up and down race,’ said Scout.

‘I am a little disappointed with my own perofrmance with maybe a bit of fatigure after the uphill only race on the Wednesday. I also had cramp in my quads at one stage on one of the descents.

‘But the atmosphere was amazing and we had the full team out cheering us on. I managed to out-sprint a couple of athletes on the run-in to the line.

‘It is one of the toughest races I have done for a long while so to get silver medals is great and from my point of view adding that to bronze from earlier feels really good.’

Alice, who was making her GB debut in terms of mountain running, said: ‘I am su per happy with how the race unfolded.

‘I felt I paced it well. I was quite ‘chilled’ on the first lap and sat in a bit and then tried to move through more on the second lap.

‘It is my first Senior Champs in this discipline so I am absolutely delighted with my performance and team silver medals. I could not be more proud of the team overall.’

UP AND DOWN RACES

Superb news this afternoon from the World Mountain Running Champs with more global medal success for GB and NI.

The Women’s team, with three Scots in the quartet, took silver medals in the up and down race earlier.

Alice Goodall, in her first mountain running champs for GB, placed an excellent 10 and was followed in at 12th by Scout Adkin. Phillipa Williams in 21st was the third counter and Holly Page completed the team effort.

Well done to the athletes and their families, coaches and clubs.

The senior men finished sixth overall in the team standings with Joe Steward once again the first British finisher in 18th after another superb display in the Austrian mountains.

Jacob Adkin (Keswick) ran well for 20th with Andy Douglas (Inverclyde AC) close behind in 22nd place, under 10 seconds behind his compatriot.

+++

UPHILL RACE

Scout Adkin claimed another global medal as she led the GB and NI women to team bronze in the uphill race.

Our National XC champion produced another solid international performance as she secured eighth place to spearhead the British team to third.

For Scout, who is coached by our own Angela Mudge, it improved upon her individual 11th place finish in Thailand at last year’s edition of the Championships.

The European medallist maintained a consistent position throughout the race, holding eighth place from the halfway checkpoint to the finish line. With every place important to the overall team score, the rest of the team packed well.

Sara Willhoit was next to reach the finish as she secured 20th position, just over 20 seconds ahead of Phillipa Williams in 23rd. Kate Avery was next in 24th, narrowly ahead of Slovakia’s Silvia Schwaiger.

With just two points between GB and NI and Italy in the team standings, the quartet battled for every position to secure their place on the podium behind Kenya and Germany.

In the men’s race,  Jacob Adkin finished in 22^nd place, just over a minute and a half back from team-mate Joe Steward. Chris Richards was the third counter in 32nd, while Andy Douglas ended the race in 50th position.

+++

SHORT TRAIL RACE

GB and NI men were to secure a superb set of team golds in this race over 45k – but there was injury heartbreak for Sasha Chepelin.

Individual silver for Thomas Roach led the way and he was backed up by Jon Albon in fifth and Kris Jones, the Dundee Hawkhill Harriers athlete who has made a big impact in Scotland over recent years, in eight to clinch top spot. Their combined time was eight minutes ahead of Italy.

Unfortunately, after completing nearly 35km of the tough course, Carnethy HRC’s Sasha was forced to retire from the race after twisting his ankle so did not finish.

+++

LONG TRAIL RACE

In the long trail race over 85km, the British women’s team finished sixth overall after a strong showing.

Fiona Pascall was the top finisher for the team in 18th place, coming through in a time of 12:25:54.

Next to reach the finish line for the British team was Scottish athlete Jasmin Paris (Carnethy HRC) who completed the tough course in 13:05:15, while Julia Davis (Newquay RR) was just over half an hour further back in 13:38:17 in 41st place.

Unfortunately, Meryl Cooper (Deeside Runners) retired from the race after completing 60km of the course.

+++

Tags: Alice Goodall, Andy Douglas, Austria, Holly Page, Jacob Adkin, Jasmin Paris, Meryl Cooper, Sasha Chepelin, Scout Adkin, World Mountain and Trail Champs