It’s hard to believe we are now in August, and looking for nominations for July’s PH Run of the Month. We have unfortunately dropped the ball somewhat over the last couple of months in failing to post up the winners of the May and June votes!
Well done to Kristin Lownie who topped the poll once again in May for her superb run at the Scottish 5k Championships at Silverknowes, right at the start of the month, achieving her long-standing goal of breaking 18 minutes. Her time of 17:59 was also a female club record. Later that same weekend, Kristin also broke the 10 Mile club record at the Tay Ten with 1:02:01 to place 3rd female and 1st V40.
There were seven other nominees in May. Luke McNeil was nominated for the Tay Ten where he was the overall race winner in a club record time of 53:54. Luke also ran a club record 15:32 at 5k Champs, arguably a better performance, but a win’s a win! Andrew Wright was also put forward for his run in Perth where he was 1st V50 in a time of 58:35. It was a successful month for Julie Menzies who won a Scottish V50 gold medal winner in a time of 40:35 at the Shettleston 10k. Julie had also been put forward for being 1st V50, setting V50 course record and equalling the V50 club record at the Tay Ten.
Members nominated Malcolm Hammond for three different races in May, including the Tay Ten and Loch Leven Half, where he was 1st V70 and/or V75, but the run on the ballot was the Black Rock ‘5’ where he also ran the fastest ever time for a V70. Jordy Hutt and Sarah Paterson were also nominated for the Loch Leven Half where Jordy had a strong run of 1:26:49 and Sarah won Masters silver for her time of 1:37:56. Last but not least for the nominations was Andrew McQueen, who had just joined the club, and had a very controlled run on his debut marathon in Edinburgh despite hot conditions to finish in 3:15:49.
Onto June, and Andy Davis came out on top of the poll for his run at the North Downs 30k, which doubled as the British Masters Trail Championships. Andy won V50 British gold in a time of 2:08:01 and this was only two weeks after winning East District Trail gold at Dechmont 10k (main image).
Luke McNeil was again nominated for another great run, this time at the Roon The Toon 10k in Kilmarnock where he finished in 32:58. Another new member, Paul McNellis, was also on the ballot for an excellent run of 36:34 at the same race. And of course, Malcolm Hammond was nominated again, this time for his M75 5000m gold at the Orkney Athletics Club Championships, where he ran 21:19.
One other performance that did stand out was Neil McLure who picked up a bronze medal at part of the GB & NI team at the World Masters Mountain Running Championships in Janské Lázně, Czechia at the end of June. Neil completed the long distance race in 2:53:50 but was obviously too tired to let us know before Run of the Month nominations closed!
There were far too many other good runs over the last two or three months to mention all but well done to everyone who has been racing since our last report! There are sure to be a number of deserving nominations for July’s Run of the Month and we will aim to publish the results in a more timely fashion!
PH Racing Club 