GRAHAM Lake took part in the Alan Kirk Memorial Lads Leap Fell Race in the Peak District, but with the race doubling up as the Inter-Counties Championship this year, he faced a far tougher field than usual.

He lined up alongside his brother for the men’s race, which features a mainly runnable moorland climb, followed by a traverse to Lads Leap and then down a very fast descent to the turn-around.

Runners ascended a slightly different route from the descenders, but this proved to be tricky on a stiflingly hot day. The run back through the forest looked like a runnable gradient for example, but it had most competitors walking in stages.

Lake put everything in to the race, but was surprised to look back on the final descent and see his usually faster sibling far behind. His brother had slowed to a jog early on as he was struggling to cope with the heat.

A good run from Lake saw him cross the line in 84th place out of 137 competitors with a time of one hour, one minute and nine seconds.

Further ahead, Yorkshire won the team prize, followed by Cumbria and Derbyshire. In the women’s race, Yorkshire's Emma Clayton won, with the team prize also going to her county. Cumbria and Northern Ireland made up the podium.

Meanwhile, Colin Best decided to do a Royal Wedding themed race on Saturday morning, with competitors attempting to chase down a "bride", who has a 20-minute headstart on the field.

The race is an out and back from the Craven Arms Appletreewick to the trig point on Simon’s Seat. This meant a tricky uphill finish to the fell race.

Best failed on his attempts to catch the runaway bride as she was well on her way back down the hill when she passed him.

Instead, he was busy chasing down fellow Otley AC runner Matt Podd, but despite passing him on the way up, he was overtaken by his teammate on the way back down.

The other tradition of the race is one which is surely welcomed by the majority of competitors, as they have to drink a pint of beer as fast as they can before crossing the finish line!