WATCH: Women’s champion battles through injury to win Loch Ness Marathon again
MELISSAH Gibson successfully defended her women’s title at the Loch Ness Marathon as she claimed victory for the second successive year.
The Ealing Eagles athlete followed up her victory from last year to retain her crown as she came home in a time of two hours 54 minutes and 38 seconds.
Rachel Boswell of Thames Hare and Hounds was in second place in a time of 2:55:14 with Katie Wilson from Highland Hill Runners in third place in a time of 3:03:27.
Gibson was unsure if she would be able to compete as she is still recovering from a tendinitis problem. But she was delighted to produce a performance good enough to retain her crown.
She said: “I am grateful as I was 11 minutes faster than last year and it wasn’t my best run, but I was just so grateful to be running.
“I was running for my life down the home straight. I thought that if I aimed for sub three hours and not worry about the other girls.
“I knew that Rachel would be on my tail and she kept the pressure on at the end.
“Myself and Rachel played cat and mouse and we managed to catch Freya Ross who was way ahead but ran into trouble.
Gibson has been selected to compete for Great Britain at the World 100km Championships in India in December.
She said she wanted to use the Loch Ness Marathon as a test whether she would go to Bengaluru to compete in two months time.
She says victory within her target time has given her confidence that she will head to India at the end of the year.
“Last year Loch Ness Marathon was my 90th marathon and this was 103, but the past six months have been quite quiet as Ealing Athletics don’t want me to do too many marathons.”
“I am looking to do the world 100km championships. this was a good indicator if I could break three hours here and I would like to go.”
Runner-up Boswell celebrated her 32 nd birthday by clocking 2:55:14. She said: “Melissah was mainly ahead of me for much of the race, although I tended to catch her on the downhills then she would pull away again. But it was a special day because it was my birthday and it was interesting to finish ahead of an Olympian.”
