KAREN KENNEDY was in fine form as athletes from PH Racing pitted themselves against Olympians in a top-class field at the National Cross-Country Championships.

A number of runners from the club were in action in Falkirk last Saturday, which incorporated a counting event in their own club championship, and Kennedy impressed with PH’s leading performance over the 10K course in testing conditions.

Olympian Beth Potter, who finished second behind Scottish Commonwealth athlete Morag MacLarty, was one of a record field in the women’s race and Kennedy performed well to finish second female in the veteran 45 category.

Mary Western ran a strong race to finish fifth in the veteran 50 category while Rachel Drummond enjoyed another fine day, finishing in an impressive time of 52 minutes,12 seconds.

In the men’s race, Kilbarchan AAC and Olympic athlete Callum Hawkins – who finished ninth in the marathon at the Rio Olympics – showed his class to lead from the gun and take gold for the second time, with Kris Jones (Dundee Hawkhill) and Lachlan Oates (Shettleston) taking silver and bronze.

Darren Jubb put in PH’s top male performance by finishing in a credible 42.17 in his first national championship, while Jonathan Peebles followed him home closely in 42.37.

Johnny Cassells, in his first cross-country outing, enjoyed a strong run to cross the line in 43.20, Scott Love continued his recent improvement to clock 44.20 while Wright Beveridge and Ian Robert Johnston completed PH’s finishers in 45.52 and 47.51 respectively.

Teenager Daniel Smith, 17, produced an encouraging performance in the under-20 race, while Jonathan Campbell, Darren Candlish and Andrew Jannetta all competed in their first National Championship, alongside veterans Peter Simpson and Alan Cockburn.