Home hope Catriona Morrison demolishes rivals to win Holyrood Duathlon

Climbing Arthur's Seat on a sunny Sunday afternoon is one of the staples of life in Edinburgh, the satisfaction of reaching its summit a time-served pleasure for the reward of viewing the capital toward every direction. On foot, it is not for the weary or the faint. On bike, at full tilt, it requires a particular mania.

• Belgium's Bart Aernouts wins the men's title ahead of compatriots Rob Woestenborghs and Joerie Vansteelant Picture Greg MacVean

Yet Catriona Morrison retained her sanity yesterday when others lost their heads. On what the PA announcer assured us was the "toughest course ever", the Scot won her fourth world duathlon championship. It was as much an obliteration as a triumph. So great was her margin of victory that the 33-year-old took time to inhale at the finish and accept the acclaim, turning to look back at the crowd with her French rival Sandra Levenez no longer in immediate view.

"I just thought 'I hope she's not running behind me'," she joked. Not a hope. Finishing in 2:02:48, her 17-second gap could have been much greater had she not dallied in crossing the line. Or if she had not incurred a penalty for failing to hang her bike up properly in the transition area heading into the final 5-kilometre run stage.

Even that transgression failed to break Morrison's march.

Having sat in the leading pack on the opening 10K run, she led a breakaway with Levenez on the 38.4K cycle and it became a straight scrap between the pair. "It's always good to have someone to set the pace," she admitted. "But I just didn't want her to run faster than me. She pushed things on the first run and I knew she was feeling the freshest and that I had to watch out for her. And when she was still beside me on the bike, I figured it would be the two of us going for it, and it was."

Even when she was punished by race officials with a 15 second enforced stop, she came straight back. "I was feeling a bit stupid," she admitted, but, it mattered not. The Scot - born in Glasgow, living in Broxburn - turns her attention to the immense challenge of winning Ironman's showpiece race in Hawaii later this year. "That's the one I've been looking at all year but it's a great boost to go to Kona with this under my belt."

The men's race brought a Belgian 1-2-3 with Bart Aernouts taking the title ahead of compatriots Rob Woestenborghs and Joerie Vansteelant after the trio pooled their resources on the bike stage to open up a decisive gap. "We worked very well together on the bike," said Aernouts who, sportingly, slowed at the finish to allow Woestenborghs to share the celebrations. "You need to have some trust in each other but it's nice to finish with both of us at the front.It's the first time a country's finished 1-2-3 which is amazing."

World junior champion, Sophie Coleman, headed a Great Britain 1-2 in the under-23 women's event but only after her teammate Lois Rosendale squandered a huge lead when she blew up badly over the final two kilometres. "I could see her legs were going," Coleman, from Brighton, admitted. Etienne Diemunsch of France won the under-23 men's race with Scotland's Ritchie Nicholls in fifth. "You take what you can get," he said. "I've been struggling with fatigue because it's near the end of the season so I can't complain about the result."

On Saturday, Edinburgh University student Craig Dale took silver in the 20-24 age group category while local veteran Arnott Kidd won bronze in the 75-79 section.