REACHING the peak of success was the reward for Andrew Wright as he raced to fresh heights at a national competition.

The PH Racing Club member, together with two of his clubmates, travelled to Comrie, Perthshire, on Sunday, September 20, to compete in the Scottish Athletics Hill Running Championships, and came away with a gold medal.

Held over a 12-kilometre, uphill course with 830 metres of climbing, Robbie Simpson, of Deeside Runners, claimed overall victory by finishing in a time of 50 minutes and 55 seconds but Wright enjoyed age group success.

By completing the race in an impressive effort of 59:06, Wright, who finished second overall at the Falkland Hill Race earlier in the month, was the first M40 age group runner to cross the finish line.

That was also good enough to secure 24th place overall out of a field of 122 runners and ensured that he went one better than his silver medal-winning performance from 12 months ago.

Michael McConnell and Michael Stewart were the other PH runners that took part in the race which, due to current coronavirus restrictions, saw runners make their way around the course in waves.

McConnell, in a time of 1:09.50, came home in 63rd position while Stewart, in 1:25.50, was 106th overall and the ninth M50 age group athlete to finish.

Joining the PH contingent at the race were Carnegie Harriers’ trio Stuart Paterson, Kevin Davie and Michelle Best, an F40 age group runner.

Paterson, by clocking a time of 57:46, finished in an impressive 17th position overall, while M40 Davie and Best ran times of 1:17.08 and 1:28.42 respectively.

The winner of the women’s race was Scout Adkin (Moorfoot Runners), who finished 35th overall in a time of 1:01.57.