Back To Basics 10k felt like a return to normality for Inverness Harriers veteran Donnie Macdonald
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Donnie Macdonald says last weekend’s Back to Basics 10k felt close to a return to normal racing after the pandemic forced some changes.
The Inverness Harrier crossed the line as the fastest veteran in Forres, finishing fifth in the overall standings as he continues to build up fitness on his return from an ankle injury.
One feature of the race, though, was that it did away with starting in waves.
Instead, more than 60 runners assembled at the starting line to begin at the same time, an extremely rare occurrence when races have been able to go ahead during the pandemic.
For Macdonald, it was a pleasing sight, although he did make the point that wave starts did not have a huge impact on the outcomes.
“It felt like more of a proper race with 60-odd runners,” Macdonald said.
“We got a bit of normality back, and hopefully we can all keep building from here.
“There are more races in the pipeline I think, so we’ll see how things go.
“With north races, it tends to break up quite quickly, so you quite often end up on your own fairly early on in the race anyway.
“It’s good for morale though, starting in a big group. There’s more of a sense of occasion, definitely.”
Macdonald is still waiting to see whether half-marathons he has entered later in the year will go ahead, but he has a target in mind at the 10k distance when he gets back to full fitness.
“I’d quite like to get my time back down, I was around about 32 minutes and I even dipped under that in one of the races down in England,” he added.
“That didn’t end up being ratified, because it was a shorter course, so I would quite like to right those wrongs and get a sub-32 time by the end of the year, or the start of next year.
“It’s just a case of building it back up again, it’s great to be back racing.”
