John Bell wins Inverness Half Marathon 2024
John Bell wins Inverness Half Marathon 2024
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00:00 How you going?
00:01 Yeah, thank you very much.
00:03 Yeah, I was hoping for a medal, so...
00:05 I wasn't expecting gold, but I'll take it.
00:07 Yeah, so, a PB as well?
00:09 Yeah, a massive PB, actually, I think, over a minute.
00:11 Yeah.
00:13 I've only just broke 67, I think that was maybe 65 mid or something.
00:15 65.33, roughly.
00:17 Yeah, so about a minute and 26 PB, so yeah, huge.
00:19 Aye, good.
00:21 Delighted with that.
00:23 So, tell us how the race unfolded then.
00:25 So, my plan was just to sit in to go on.
00:27 Normally I'm quite aggressive at the start, but it's not been doing me any favour.
00:29 So, I planned to sit in to 10 miles,
00:31 hopefully to have a good bit of fibre,
00:33 so then race the last 5K.
00:35 A few boys started dropping off,
00:37 maybe 5, 6 miles in.
00:39 Felt the pace slower a little bit, about the 8 mile mark, so
00:41 yeah, picked it up, then it was just me
00:43 and Shaun for the last mile,
00:45 just shoulders to shoulders.
00:47 Okay, so about 100m eventually, getting that wee gap.
00:49 Literally, maybe,
00:51 800m to go.
00:53 So, passed the K marker, or the 4K
00:55 for the 5K race, then
00:57 I was going to wait till the track, but I know Shaun's quick,
00:59 so I was like, I'll try now. To be honest, I thought I went too early.
01:01 That last 100m, I was
01:03 treading water.
01:05 Aye, were you? Did you know how close
01:07 behind you was? I was constantly looking for my shoulder,
01:09 yeah. I wouldn't normally do that, but
01:11 I was, yeah, scared I was coming fast.
01:13 But yeah, no, I'm hoping I win.
01:15 Delighted.
01:17 So, was that your first Scottish title?
01:19 No, no, I won the road 10K last year.
01:21 That was my first gold individual.
01:23 But yeah, first time even getting
01:25 medal at this one.
01:27 First time racing this actual event,
01:29 it was cracking close, really enjoyed it.
01:31 Definitely back for it.
01:33 Aye, it's good cause, always seems to produce
01:35 fast times. Yeah, it's quite hilly in the middle
01:37 as well, but I think you get about the way early enough
01:39 that you can enjoy the downhill
01:41 then flatten the way back in.
01:43 But yeah, great event, definitely come back.
01:45 And what's your aim now?
01:47 What's your ambition?
01:49 My A race is probably going to be the Tom Scott,
01:51 so the first of March I think it is.
01:53 But I think we're going to do the
01:55 six stage as well, so I'll be probably doing one of the
01:57 10K legs for the six stage then, Tom Scott.
01:59 Then beyond that, just trying to get into
02:01 the 29 minutes for the 10,000
02:03 through the summer, then I'm not sure from there.
02:05 You've no thoughts of starting up another
02:07 Norwich route? Yeah, the plan was
02:09 Manchester actually, Marathon wise,
02:11 I'm getting a lot to my house done,
02:13 I need to move out next week and stuff, so
02:15 yeah, so I'm going to delay until maybe the end of the year.
02:17 So yeah, get this done, 10 mile off,
02:19 get the 29 minutes then, see what the end of the year brings.