ATHLETES with PH Racing Club have shown they are masters of the mile after enjoying success at a recent UK-wide competition.

Ed Norton, Allen Marr and Malcolm Hammond were among their members that took part in the British Masters One Mile Challenge, an event held virtually, and produced a superb performance to take top spot.

Organised by the British Masters Athletic Federation (BMAF), the competition attracted a total of 1,562 athletes – 1,230 of whom submitted their performance – from 230 clubs, 71 of which entered more than one team.

Norton, in a time of five minutes and 55 seconds, Allen, in 6:03, and Hammond, in 6:44, combined for a total time of 18:42 to take gold, placing ahead of both Sheffield RC Racing and Ipswich Jaffa Running Club, in the M65-74 age category.

Further success for PH arrived in the M35-44 age group, as Stuart Tite (5:03), Scott Love (5:26) and Martin Butcher (5:30), for an overall time of 15:59, finished as the top team from Scotland, while Julie Menzies (F45, 5:40) and Kristin Lownie (F35, 5:32) placed fourth and sixth individually in their respective categories.

Scottish Athletics has also been busy organising 'virtual' events to keep athletes on the run through lockdown and, over the course of the last month, there have been three in which PH members have participated.

The first of those was a 'Virtual Hill Challenge', in which those taking part were challenged to gain as much elevation as possible over a 30-minute period, and three runners with the club got involved.

In the under-17 age group, Aaron Bennet's 251 metres saw him claim second spot, while his dad, Ross, managed fifth place in the M45 category with 226m. They were separated by M50s competitor Mark McLean, who posted 235m to also take a fifth place.

A Scottish Athletics Virtual Road Challenge, which saw seniors and masters athletes cover five miles, was up next and the best overall team of four males and four females would go on to represent Scotland in a UK-wide competition.

While this didn't happen for PH, there were a number of impressive self-timed performances, including those of Paul Kieran (M45) and Lownie (F35), who finished top of their age categories with times of 26:59 and 30:18 respectively.

That was matched by both Menzies (F45, 31:45) and Hammond (M70, 34:47), while M50 McLean (30:48) finished fourth.

Gayle Lindsay, in 31:04, was the seventh senior female, while Aaron Bennet was the club's sole representative in the under-17 event, held over four miles, and saw him run a time of 24:44.

At the beginning of this month, another Scottish Athletics Road Challenge took place, over a 10K distance for seniors and masters, and Susan Allan was PH's sole competitor, finishing as the fifth F40 athlete in 48:06.