WATCH: Fife athlete destroys 16-year record to win River Ness 10k in Inverness
FIFE Athletics Club athlete Logan Rees smashed the River Ness 10k record which had stood for 16 years as he claimed the title for the first time in his career in Inverness.
The 27-year-old set a new course record of 28 minutes and 52 seconds to win the men’s title and break the old record by 43 seconds of 29:35 set by Amanuel Hagos from Shettleston back in 2008.
The winners from the previous two years, Fraserburgh’s Max Abernethy and Shettleston’s Lachlan Oates, had to settle for second and third positions respectively. Abernethy, the Scottish 10,000m track champion, clocked 29:55 with Oates timed at 31:00.
Rees had made a 5000 mile journey from his base in California just three days before Sunday’s race but that did not impact his performance in any way as he rewrote the history books.
He said: “I’m happy with that as the plan was to go for the record. I was on my own pretty quickly after the start, but I train on my own most of the time so I’m used to it.
“It was good having the kilometre markers so I could keep track of my pace.
“I felt good at halfway so decided to step it up from there. I got a bad stitch a couple of minutes from the end, but it was no big deal.
“Overall, I’m satisfied as I only got here on Thursday and haven’t slept well, so it hasn’t been a great few days.”
Rees also recalled his only previous visit to the event, in 2017, when he finished second in 30:01.
He said: “That was a different experience and I only finished second. It’s good to win in a much faster time. If I can improve my time by as much as I’ve done over the next seven years as I’ve done over the past seven years, I’ll be happy.”
Rees has now relocated permanently to Scotland after spending most of the past five years in the US. He completed a Masters degree in biology at Boise State University in Idaho before moving to Sacramento, California where he worked as a Field Biologist.
Now he’ll spend some time at his parent’s home in Fife before deciding which direction to take.
He said: “I’m really looking forward to getting back into the Scottish and British running scene as the set-up here is brilliant. I’ll be racing every weekend between now and mid-December. But, I need to figure out my life.
“I’ve been set up in the US for five years, so I’m not sure what the long-term plan is. I need to get a job.”
