Shock win for Borderer Katie Rourke at Great Scottish Run half-marathon
Borderer Katie Rourke pulled off a shock category win in Sunday’s Great Scottish Run half-marathon in Glasgow and she was among those most surprised.
The Gala Harrier, tackling that 13-mile-plus run for the first time, clocked 1:16:49, over a minute ahead of former Olympian Freya Ross, placing 78th all told.
London 2012 Olympics veteran Ross, of Falkirk Victoria Harriers, clocked 1:17:54 for 104th place all together.
Rourke’s time was a near-four-minute personal best over that distance and the St Boswells 25-year-old, a member of the Galashiels club for the last decade and a half, surprised herself at how much she’d managed to knock off her prior fastest time, saying: “It was almost a four-minute PB.
“I’d run a half in Alloa in March in 1:20:41 and that was my PB before.
“I really didn’t expect it at all.
“I hadn’t really looked at the start-list or anything like that, so I was going into it seeing if I could knock a bit of time off before I go into another marathon block and to see if what we’d been doing was working.
“It wasn’t even on my radar to be on the podium, never mind finish first.
“It just fitted in with my other races and I knew there’d be a decent number of people running about the same pace, which helps.
“I didn’t actually know I was that far in front. About ten miles in, there were two girls chasing me and another pair not far behind them, so for the last three miles I think I was just running in fear that they were catching up with me. I didn’t really know because I wasn’t looking behind at the end.”
Rourke, a worker at Langlee Riding Stables near Jedburgh, says she’s got coach Neil Renton to thank for helping her up her game, explaining: “My coaches had been quite keen over the summer to work on getting faster over kind of 5k and 10k and longer distances as that doesn’t come as naturally to me as shorter, faster stuff.
“We put in a bit of work over the summer on the track and I’m delighted it paid off.”
Sunday’s overall half-marathon winner was Jamie Burns, of Glasgow’s Shettleston Harriers, in 1:04:42, with his clubmate Weynay Ghebresilasie second in 1:06:03 and Fife Athletic Club’s Lewis Rodgers third in 1:06:31.
Rourke’s Gala clubmate David Nightingale was third in his over-70 age bracket and 5,461st overall in 1:50:21.
The Borders pair were among a combined field of 32,000 for Sunday’s 13-mile run and a shorter one over five miles, both starting in the city’s St Vincent Street and finishing on Glasgow Green.