Borderers help Scotland to fourth-placed finish at Italian mountain-running competition
Borderers Jacob Adkin and Thomas Hilton helped Scotland to a fourth-placed finish at a two-day European mountain-running competition in Italy at the weekend.
First up at the seven-nations contest at Casto in Brescia in Lombardy, also a World Mountain-Running Association world cup round, was Saturday’s Vertical Nasego race, run in 30C heat over 4.3km with 1,000m of ascent.
Adkin was first Scot home in the men’s race in 13th place out of 140 in 37:01, with Moorfoot Runners teammate Hilton 20th in 38:40, Edinburgh’s Finlay Todd 30th in 39:58 and Glasgow’s Andy Douglas 39th in 41:22, first place overall going to Kenya’s Patrick Kipngeno in 33:31.
With the combined positions of each country’s first two male and female finishers taken into account, Scotland were in third place overnight ahead of Sunday’s 21km Trofeo Nasego race, featuring 1,330m of climb.
A late withdrawal by Adkin meant the men’s team were down to three for day two, contested by a field of 136 and won by Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago in 1:30:08, with Hilton leading the way for the Scots in 17th place in 1:43:02, Todd 28th in 1:48:28 and Douglas 32nd in 1:51:09.
That saw Scotland slip a place to finish fourth overall, with Italy ending up first, France second and England third.