It’s been another hugely successful start to the road running season for PH Racing Club with our athletes winning a number of national medals at various distances from 10k to marathon.
Back in March, a number of members took part in the popular Inverness Half Marathon, which this year incorporated the Scottish Half Marathon Championships. Quickest of the PH contingent was Graeme Doig, timing at 74:02. Kristin Lownie, Julie Menzies and Malcolm Hammond all collected silver medals in their respective age categories, while there was a superb run of 86:23 from Martin McNellis to secure V60 gold, his first national medal. There was also a personal best of 79:07 for Aaron Bennet, who broke 80 minutes for the first time, as well as new bests for Andy Jannetta and Alan McGowan, both building for the Manchester Marathon. This year the Alloa Half took place on the same day and Mark Ryan was the fastest of the four PH participants, clocking 77:49.
Into April, and the Scottish 10 Mile Championships took place as usual at the Tom Scott Race at Strathclyde Park. There was a new course this year which, by all accounts was a bit tougher, but this didn’t seem to deter Aaron Bennet who led the way for PH and recorded a time of 59:58 to put him well in the mix for our own club championship, of which this was event number four. There was another V50 silver medal for Julie Menzies who ran 66:35, while Ed Norton added to his honours list, picking up V70 Gold. Meanwhile, over in Prague for a stag do, Scott Love, Alan McGowan and Mark McLean fitted in the local half marathon. Together with ringer John Beveridge of Kinross RR they managed to finish as third team in this international event and Mark McLean has spent the last month trying to find out what the prize is.
Next up on the championship calendar was the East District 10k Championship which was once again incorporated into the Round the Houses 10k in Grangemouth. The East District awards overall masters medals rather than different age bands and so a couple of our athletes just missed out. The event, however, also incorporated the British Masters Championships which awarded medals in 5 year age bands. Here there was another V50 silver medal for Julie Menzies while Ed Norton won a British V70 bronze. Unbelievably, Norton also took home a team bronze in the V35-44 category, having been ‘down-aged’ along with Paul Kieran to make a team of three with Mark Ryan. These two had been the leading finishers for the club in 34:23 and 35:14 respectively.
Spring is traditionally marathon season and many of our members have been pounding the pavements, or more usually the Dunfermline to Alloa cycle path, all year in preparation. Mark McLean set an early marker of 3:10:39 with a well-paced run at the Rome Marathon in mid-March before attention turned to Manchester. Here there were a number of new personal bests with Andy Jannetta clocking 2:59:01 on his first attempt at the distance. Alan McGowan took over 10 minutes off his previous best, timing at 3:01:30, while relatively late entrants Martin McNellis and Michael Lindsay also put in superb runs on the marathon debuts. McNellis can be very proud of his time of 3:11:33, which placed him 11th V60 in the race. Lindsay, ran the race in his customary style, starting conservatively before running a huge negative split to finish in 3:14:36, all the more impressive given he got injured almost as soon as he entered the race. There is surely a lot more to come from both should they decide to pursue the marathon distance. Sarah Paterson ran her first race in PH colours and also ran an excellent personal best of 3:17:36 to hopefully help her qualify for the Tokyo Marathon.
Of course, the biggest running event in the UK is the London Marathon and there were no fewer than six PH athletes lucky enough to take part this year. Everyone at home got a bit excited before the race when Malcolm Hammond appeared on our TVs during a segment on families running the race. Unfortunately, his sons John and Paul were nowhere to be seen and Malcolm didn’t get a mention. He did manage to recover from this snub though to run an excellent race and win a Scottish Championship V70 gold. John and Paul also had injury-disrupted build ups but still both ran well, finishing in 2:46:07 and 3:37:11 respectively. Rachel McGavin was our only female entrant, running her first marathon for a few years and she was very pleased with her time of 4:15:25. It’s doubtful that that she was as pleased as Graeme Doig, who put in the performance of the year so far to smash his PB and the club record with a time of 2:33:21, and place 7th in the V45 category. With England’s top marathon chosen to host the Scottish Marathon Championship, Doig’s run was also rewarded with a national V40 silver medal. We will no doubt be hearing about this for some time to come, and deservedly so.
Closer to home on the same morning, at an arguably more picturesque location, Julie Menzies topped the podium at the Dalgety Bay 10k where she timed at 42:04. Judy Turner was the V50 winner while Stuart Mieklejohn was the fastest PH male, finishing in 40:16, ahead of Iain Wallace and Derek Cosgrove. Finally for now, Friday past saw the first race of the Kirkcaldy Wizards summer races, the Ravenscraig 2 Mile. Aaron Bennet was once again the leading finisher for PH, finishing third overall and lowering his junior club record to 10:16. Paul Kieran was only one place behind, running the distance for the first time and setting a V40 record of 10:25. Alan McGowan enjoyed a tight race, finishing a single second ahead of Gary Pirie who can console himself with a new club V50 record of 11:18.
The next big race for the club is Friday’s Sri Chinmoy Scottish Championship 5k when a number of PH athletes will be hoping to be among the medals as well as securing vital club championship points. Good luck to all who are taking part.
PH Racing Club 