There was a healthy contingent of athletes from PH Racing Club among the runners at Wednesday’s Brig Bash, which was the 10th counter in this year’s Club Championship. This mostly flat 5 mile race takes place at Bridge of Earn and is organised by Perth Road Runners.

It was the ladies who scooped most of the prizes from a PH point of view, with Gayle Lindsay winning both the prize for the first mile, timing at 5:59 for this, and the overall prize for first female, finishing in an excellent new club record of 30:39. Gayle also teamed up with sister Katrina (32:40) and Sarah Paterson (34:29) to win the ladies team prize which was a superb result. It was also great to see Laura Muncey running in PH colours for the first time and Susan Allan become the first of completer for the Club Championship.

In the men’s race the first PH finisher, behind new course record holder Jamie Crowe, was Aaron Bennet, who also registered his eighth Club Championship race to complete it and set a marker for others to aim for. Bennet had obviously learned his lesson from the recent Milnathort Dash where he attempted to win the King of the Hill prize at the start, but then jogged the rest of that race. He didn’t attempt anything silly for the first mile here and finished 10th overall in 28:18 to equal the junior club record.

Phil Waring had another good run to also break 30 mins and finish in 29:16 with Stuart Meiklejohn completing the men’s team in 30:21. The other prize winner for PH on the night was Ed Norton, who scooped the V70 prize, despite running conservatively (35:24) with an eye on the weekend’s track championships. Iain Wallace (30:40) and Ian Stewart (31:58) finished second in their age categories of V50 and V60 respectively. Ross Bennet joined son Aaron on eight Club Championship races so it is currently a Bennet 1-2 in the race for that title.

As mentioned, the Milnathort Dash took place recently and this was also a PH Club Championship race. The Dash is a hillier affair than The Bash, and slightly over 5 miles, but Mark Ryan still dipped under 30 minutes to time at 29:48, placing 4th overall and 1st V40.

Phil Waring finished in 31:11 and Robert Sellar in 31:59 to make up the PH men’s team and win the team prize. Julie Menzies was 2nd female overall in 34:34, John Crookston won the V60 category in 34:23, and Ed Norton won his customary V70 prize with a good run of 36:53 in very hot conditions.

There have been a number of other good performances recently. Martin Butcher once again took on the 96 mile West Highland Way Race and completed in under his target time of 20 hours, eventually making it into the hall in Fort William in 11th position, with 19:40:14 on the clock. Also enjoying the long distances is Judy Turner who ran the Lairig Ghru Hill Race, over a marathon distance, in 5:15:55 to win the V50 prize. According to Judy though, the race itself was the easy part of the day, with the bus journey afterwards far more arduous.

Ben Hukins has been running the Fife Midweek Series and was the winner of the Hill of Tarvit Race in 34:11. Aaron Bennet has similarly been taking part in the Kirkcaldy Wizards Friday Night Series and posted a decent time of 10:30 in the 2 Mile race at Kirkcaldy Prom to cement 2nd place in the standings. Earlier that day, Mark Western had taken on the slightly shorter 3k on the Green in Glasgow where he ran 11:38.

Last, but not least, at the 7k Benarty Gala Trail Race, Bryan Innes was 2nd overall in 30:43, while Julie Menzies won the women’s race and placed 12th overall in 34:29.

Well done to all and thanks to the various race organisers. Special thanks to Gordon Donnachie who seems to have been at every race over the last few weeks and has provided all of these photos, which are always much appreciated!