BORDERER Sammi Kinghorn smashed the course record to win the elite women's wheelchair race at The Big Half race on Sunday.
The 13-mile half marathon started in central London and concluded in Greenwich.
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Sammi edged out Eden Rainbow-Cooper in a photo finish that went down to tenths of a second. The pair both clocked 52:05, almost five minutes under the previous course record, and winning The Big Half, Kinghorn’s chair tipped over. She was treated my medical staff but quickly given the all-clear.
Afterwards she said: “I was thrilled with a debut win. The crowds around the course were amazing.
“It was a good course, an enjoyable course, not too hilly, not too twisty, it was quite nice.
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“The cobbles were a bit challenging at a few points, so you get rattled about a bit. Me and Eden [Rainbow-Cooper] did it together, so it was nice.
“Going over Tower Bridge was my most enjoyable part. It was an iconic part – that was pretty special.
“It has been a great atmosphere – there were loads of people out with their kids, because the sun was out, cheering. It’s great to show up for a sport and show how cool our sport is.”
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It has been a fantastic week for the wheelchair racer from Gordon.
On Thursday (August 31), she also won the 1,500m at the Diamond League event in Zurich in a time of 3:23:57 finishing 0.35 seconds ahead of her big rival, Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner, who finished second. Manuela Schar, also from Switzerland, finished in third place.
After that race, the Borderer said: “I think I over exceeded in what I thought I could achieve in that race with it not being my usual event, but I think I may have to step up next year.
“I actually really enjoyed the race.
“I still had loads left at the end and at one point I thought that maybe this isn’t the bell lap and I had a little bit of hesitation.
“But when the girls started to accelerate I thought, 'OK I just need to go for this'.
“I’m really strong round the bend so I knew that I could attack there. So it was really good and I’m really pleased.”
Kinghorn is back in action at the Great North Run next weekend before taking some well-deserved time off ahead of next year’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
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