ILKLEY Harriers' Brian Melia undertook an incredible endurance run in the Ronda Del Cims, a giant route around the whole principality of Andorra, and its highest point, Coma Pedrosa, which is at an altitude of 2,942 metres.

Beautiful wooded sections at the start of 170-kilometre race soon changed to a dramatically rocky terrain, with massive precipitous descents onto ledges.

Melia reached Coma Pedrosa where he surprisingly encountered a bagpiper. This was followed by a descent over snow/ice round a lake, before dropping into stunning valleys.

There were more huge climbs through Friday night up to Pic Negra but as Saturday arrived, the descents became a struggle.

Even worse, the ascent of Col des Isards saw a terrible storm. Melia and his running partners had to go flat out over the three cols with lightning bouncing and stinging hailstones.

After a lengthy delay, they were told groups of four could tackle the final 40km at 11pm. In good spirits, they continued to the final col and with 22km left, Melia's group pushed hard and rolled into the finish for a beer.

Melia was 72nd in around 40 hours. Of the 450 starters, only just over 80 completed the course.

Elsewhere, Colin Williams came third and was first V50 in the Scorcher Run Festival Marathon in Preston, with a time of three hours 29 minutes and 47 seconds in a flat, six-lap race.

Jack Cummings also finished third in 21 minutes and 14 seconds at the steep 2.6-mile Cracoe Bofra Fell Race.

Meanwhile, in the final 2018 Harrogate Summer Race League race at Nidd Valley, Harriers' Matthew Cox came seventh with a time of 33.13.

Club-mates Istvan Jacso (33.53) and Daniel McKeown (33.57) finished 12th and 14th respectively.

In the Lake District, Dick Waddington competed in a skyrunning event. Skyrunning is popular in Europe and comprises of marked trails and lots of elevation gain with technical terrain.

The Lakes Sky Ultra is 58km long with over 4,500m of elevation gain. The terrain keeps the mind off the distance covered, so by the time Waddington reached halfway at Patterdale, he was feeling tired.

The heat made conditions tricky but the last 5km saw a nice low angle run into Ambleside with wonderful views down to civilisation. Waddington finished 26th in 12.32.41 and was second V45.

Also in the Lakes, Roy Ruddle completed the Wasdale Horseshoe, coming 64th in 5.49.03 (fifth V50). Helen Waddington took on the 40km Scafell Skyrace but failed to make it beyond the 24km cut, like many competitors.

Steven Gott was Ilkley's star in the week's Parkruns, coming fourth at Bradford with a time of 18.18. Dave Reynier (21.47) placed 31st in the race.

Neil Pomfret placed 33rd at Skipton in 23.08 and Adrian Bastow (21.02) was 35th at Woodhouse Moor. Chris Cunningham (24.46) came 44th at Druridge Bay.

Finally, Geoff Howard (21.21) was 65th at York, Will Worboys (25.25) finished 81st in Burnley, while Hilda Coulsey (27.14) came 123rd in Portrush.