PH RACING Club's Ed Norton picked up his first national medal recently in the Scottish Athletics Short Course XC Championships in Lanark.

With a time of 17 minutes, 47 seconds over the four-kilometre course in the V70 category, Norton picked up a gold despite the windy conditions which provided a challenging afternoon for the athletes.

The event at Lanark Racecourse gave club athletes the chance to rub shoulders with Olympians Laura Muir, Andy Butchart and Jake Wightman.

Norton finished first in front of Frank McMahon, of Greenock Glenpark Harriers, who took the silver, and Edinburgh AC’s Eric Stevenson, who finished in 19:34 for bronze.

John Crookston, who has won V60 silver and bronze previously in this event, was just outside the medals on this occasion, finishing in 15:52.

Further up the field, top finisher for PH was under-20 athlete Aaron Bennet, who ran 14:15. Mark Webster was next home with a time of 15:05, ahead of Scott Love (15:24).

Mark McLean (16:04) and JM Macdonald (16:07) were just behind Crookston while Ross Bennet also had a solid run of 19:57 and was happy to be competing alongside son Aaron, even if he was a few minutes behind!

In the women’s race, Kristin Lownie was the top performer for the club, finishing 64th in 15:54. Julie Menzies wasn’t too far behind, recording 16:17 for 74th place and fifth in the V40 category.

Finally, for PH, was Clare Graham, who completed her race in 19 minutes exactly.