RUNNERS with PH Racing Club have had medal success over the past month.

An action-packed April saw members achieve several impressive results, which included a golden 55th birthday for Scott McDonald at the Scottish 10,000 metre championships in Glasgow.

Competition in the V55 age category started in the best possible way, with his time of 35 minutes and 21.81 seconds enough for him to take top spot, in what was his first race over 25 laps since the same event in 2019.

There was healthy club representation at the Forth Road Bridge 10K, organised by Pitreavie AAC, which made a return having been cancelled in each of the previous two years.

Peter Gibson (36:02) was PH's highest-placed competitor, finishing fourth, while Mark Webster (ninth, fourth V40, 37:16); Mark McLean (17th, 40:02); and Andrew Kinninmonth (22nd, 41:11), also impressed.

The club was also represented at marathon events outwith Scotland, with Craig Paterson securing a PB of 2:56.27 at the Hamburg race; Mark Webster setting a new best of 2:47.56 in Manchester; and Mark McLean running a new top time of 3:04.38 in Paris.

The East District 10K Championships, and the British Masters 10K Championships, were incorporated into this year's Round the Houses 10K race in Grangemouth, and there were medals collected by PH runners.

Andrew Wright (33:08) finished 11th overall and collected East District masters gold; Paul Kieran (34:33) took home the same colour of medal in the British Masters V45 category; and Aaron Bennet finished as the third under-20 in the race (35:48).

Julie Menzies (39:21) collected East District masters silver, with Kristin Lownie winning bronze, while both women teamed up with Clare Graham to win the prize for the first ladies' masters team, and there was a V70 one-two for Malcolm Hammond (43:33) and Ed Norton (43:40).

Lownie picked up another bronze at the Tom Scott Memorial 10-Mile Race, which incorporated the Scottish 10-Mile Championship, placing third in the V40 category in her first mixed race over the distance with a PB of 64:06.

Others who ran strongly in the event for PH included Paul Kieran, who was seventh V40 in 56:32; Michael McConnell (57:46), Aaron Bennet (59:12), Stuart Meiklejohn (62:19), Michael Lindsay (64:34), Mark Western (65:43), Julie Menzies (65:50) and Gordon Coull (67:05, PB).

Ed Norton collected V70 gold as he crossed the line in 71:32, alongside F35 club-mate Louise Lessels, who, alongside Lownie and Menzies, collected a team bronze medal, while Susan Allan earned a PB of 81:23.

Elsewhere, sisters Gayle and Katrina Lindsay were fourth and fifth overall – with Gayle first in the 30-39 age group – at the Westminster Trail Half Marathon in Colorado, with times of 1:31.53 and 1:39.38 respectively; Ed Norton finished third in the over-60 category in the Run Balmoral 5K with a time of 20:43; and Paul Hammond completed the 53-mile Highland Fling Ultra, a race over the southern section of the West Highland Way, in 10:02.32.

The Dalgety Bay 10K also saw a number of PH competitors, with Mark Ryan leading the field home in 35:36, while Julie Menzies, who was 16th overall, topped the podium in the women's race in 41:42. Paul Kieran was second in 36:08; Aaron Bennet was sixth overall, and first junior, in 38:35; Mark Webster ran a time of 40:00 for 12th place; Judy Turner finished as sixth female, and second over-40, in 45:50; Clare Graham was fifth in the over-50 category in 54:51; and Ross Bennet crossed the line in 50:28.

There was a third place for Craig Paterson at the Dalmeny Half Marathon (85:00), while Aaron Bennet (10:25) was the first under-20 finisher, placing sixth overall, at Fife AC's Kirkcaldy Race Series, which also saw Ross Bennet finish second V50 in 14:30, and Mark Webster set a new club V40 record of 11:04.

At the beginning of the month, John Hammond made his Scotland debut in the Anglo Celtic Plate in Perth, which also featured open 100K and 50K races, incorporating the Scottish and British championships over those distances.

In the open 50K event, Kevin Hughes ran his first ultra event, placing third V50 athlete in 4:03.38, while Martin Butcher was the third V40, and 10th overall, with a time of 3:59.16.