VIDEO - Edinburgh athlete Dougie Selman beats favourite Isaiah Kosgei of Kenya to win Loch Ness Marathon in Inverness
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Dougie Selman caused a big shock to win the 2022 Loch Ness Marathon in Inverness on Sunday.
The 30-year-old from Corstorphine Athletics Club in Edinburgh managed to overtake Isaiah Kosgei from Kenya in the final two miles to claim victory in the race for the first time.
He crossed the line in a time of two hours, 23 minutes and 53 seconds to claim victory.
He was over two minutes ahead of Kosgei, who despite leading most of the race scraped into second place in 2:26:35.
He was only two seconds ahead of Shaun Cumming of Highland Hill Runners who claimed third place in 2:26:37.
Selman says with Kosgei originally out of sight, he managed to hunt him down in the final two miles to win the race by a comfortable margin.
He said: "Kosgei was out fairly quick, I am not sure what he went through at halfway.
"I did it in 71 minutes and there was a couple of us at that point and we managed to run consistent with a gap.
"Then all of a sudden, I managed to close it down quickly at around 22 miles and I realised that I was going to go into first place.
"I was on my own for about 19 miles, I was just trying to keep my rhythm, I had no idea how far in front Kosgei was.
"I realised at about 24 miles he wasn't that far in front and closed the gap.
"I got into the lead and it was tough in the last mile as it felt like it wasn't going to end.
"A marathon is always hard, I didn't feel like I was dying but I was working pretty hard. It was tough but I am happy.
"It is really fun and cool to run through a finishing tape as I haven't done that before."
Selman says the Loch Ness Marathon was a challenging course which he was pleased to have conquered.
"The first 10 miles has a lot of downhill that are sharp which is hard on the body. "But the course is good and it breaks up the rhythm, there were nice pockets of support and it was great coming into Inverness."
It was the first time Selman had completed a marathon since Berlin in 2016, he competed in the Manchester Marathon last year, but was forced to pull out halfway through.
Now he is preparing to compete at the Valencia Marathon in Spain in December.
He said: "Valencia is nine weeks away, it is good to practice a race and the experience of that last five to six km toughens you up."
