AARON BENNET has scooped a first club championship as he and Julie Menzies took top honours for 2023 with PH Racing Club.

The scottishathletics Lindsays National Short Course Cross Country Championships, held in Lanark, was the final event that counted towards club placings, and 19-year-old Bennet, who has been with PH since he was 13, and Menzies claimed the men's and women's titles.

Bennet finished ahead of Mark Ryan, who was the runner-up for a second year, and Phil Waring, who placed inside the top three for the first time.

In the women's championship, Menzies recorded a second straight win, and did so in style by winning V50 silver at Lanark, timing at 15 minutes and 40 seconds for the 4k distance. Clare Graham and Susan Allan finished second and third in the club event respectively.

Elsewhere, V70 competitor, Ed Norton, won silver in the cross country competition, and was PH's top athlete of 2023 in his age category, with Robert Sellar (V40), Iain Wallace (V50), and John Crookston (V60) winning the others.

Michael Combe (13:47) was the first PH athlete home at the Lanark event, placing three seconds ahead of Bennet, and they were followed by Waring (14:05), Ryan (14:16), Peter Gibson (14:26), Stuart Meiklejohn and Derek Cosgrove, who made his cross country debut for the club.

At the scottishathletics Lindsays National Cross Country Relay Championships, in Cumbernauld, a fine performance from Menzies, Graham and Anna Hartmann saw PH's women's masters team finish fourth, just 26 seconds outside the medals.

The men's masters 'A' team, consisting of Combe, Ryan, Andy Janetta and Roger Clark, finished eighth, while the 'B' team were 11th.

Away from cross country events, Andy Davis was third at the Aberfoyle Trail Half Marathon (1:24.41) before winning the Scurry Round Tentsmuir Forest Trail Half (1:21.25), Waring took a third place at the Path of Condie Half Marathon (1:20.16), organised by Kinross Road Runners, whilst Martin McNellis (1:37.15) finished as the top V60 runner, and Kat Lindsay (1:39.39) was the fourth female home.

Further afield, Bryan Innes (2:54.37) and Mark McLean (3:10.08) set a personal and season's best time respectively over a marathon distance, competing in events in Amsterdam and New York.