Hamish Hickey may be the rookie in the pack - but none of the other elite runners taking part in Sunday's (12 March) Inverness Half Marathon are likely to underestimate the 22-year-old Strathpeffer athlete's potential. The race, now in its 38th year will host the Scottish championships for the first time and, with North District medals up for grabs as well, it has attracted a top-class field.
    
Hickey has enjoyed success over much shorter distances in recent years, finishing third in last month’s Scottish 10,000m cross country championships at Falkirk, but this will be his first serious attempt at a half marathon. The Central AC member said: "I've thrown my hat into the ring and I'm looking forward to finding out what I can do. It will be good to try something different. All the other guys are experienced at this distance and I'm not, so it will be very interesting.

"There's not many races in Scotland with this depth of quality and it's great to have a national championship event in Inverness. It also means I can combine racing with a trip back home. It's an ideal situation, with a good line-up, a fast course and, hopefully, decent weather conditions."

Hickey's rivals include Elgin-based Lachlan Oates (Shettleston Harriers), who made an impressive half marathon debut when winning the Fraserburgh race last November, recording 1:06:22 in far from ideal conditions. Fraser Stewart (Cambuslang Harriers), who was third at Inverness last year in 1:06:40, and James Donald (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers), who has a best time of 1:05:27 from the 2020 Antrim Coast half marathon, are others expected to be battling for the coveted national medals.

Three-time Scottish women's half marathon champion Fionnuala Ross hopes to defend her national title at the weekend. The Ireland international, who is based in Glasgow and represents Shettleston Harriers, is also a previous winner of the Inverness race, having taken top spot in 2017 when recording 1:17:56. But, her impressive personal best of 1:13:25, set at last October's Great Scottish Run, is just four seconds short of the Inverness course record set by Kenya's Cathy Mutwa in 2007.

Ross believes she is in the sort of form which could take her close to that mark if weather conditions are favourable. She said: "I feel as though I'm in similar shape to when I ran in Glasgow last autumn so, hopefully, I can be around my personal best time, but we'll see how it goes. From what I can remember from running at Inverness in 2017, it's quite a hilly course. But what goes up, must come down, so it's still good.”

Ross's main challenge is expected to come from Metro Aberdeen's Ginie Barrand who set a PB of 1:16:30 when making her Scotland debut in the Antrim Coast half marathon last August (when Ross ran 1:13:59). The French-born athlete, who is based in Banchory, has made one previous appearance in the Inverness half marathon, recording 1:20:05 to place third in the 2017 race won by Ross.

Race Director Malcolm Sutherland is eagerly looking forward to the occasion. He said: "It's shaping up to be a fantastic day of racing with so many top quality athletes coming to Inverness. We are proud to be hosting both the Scottish and North District championships this year, which adds a bit of spice to the proceedings.

"It’s a great day out. Although half marathon entries have closed, we have a 5K fun run which has attracted almost 1,000 entrants. Limited additional places will be available on the day and these will be allocated on a first come, first served basis."

If you'd like to know more, visit the Inverness Half Marathon website.

Image: Inverness Half Marathon