ILKLEY Harrier Euan Brennan starred on the world stage at the weekend when he took a superb second place in the Under-20 International Cross Country in Elgoibar, Spain.

Euan had qualified for the England team via the British Cross Challenge, and he made his mark in style.

In a thrilling finish, he crossed the line just four seconds behind teammate Zakariya Mahamed, who clocked a winning time of 20 minutes and 53 seconds.

Euan held off France’s Arthur Gervais by the narrowest of margins for the runner-up spot, both given the same time of 20:53. And there was just a second back to Valentin Bresc, also of France, in fourth.

On the domestic front, there was another outstanding performance from Jack Wood, who underlined his versatility with third place in the ultra-competitive Brass Monkey Half Marathon.

The York event – flat and on the road - is a world away from the fell and cross country races that Wood has been excelling at recently, but he handled the transition with ease.

His time of 1:10:42 for the 13.1-mile race was exactly a minute behind winner Adrian Bailes of Birtley AC, with over 1,500 runners taking part.

Also to the fore was Kate Archer, who dipped well under the 1:30 mark and set a new personal best despite the windy conditions.

She finished in 1:27:26, the 15th lady out of 555 – and fifth out of 127 in her FV40 age category.

The wind was even more of a factor at the Stanbury Splash fell race up above Haworth on Sunday. As the race name suggests, water was also an obstacle but plenty of Harriers took on the challenge and they were led home by Jack Cummings and Istvan Jacso in 12th and 16th respectively, with Wharfedale’s rising star Robin Howie taking first place.

The Harriers’ Chevin Chase winner Helen Thurston was 36th overall and fourth lady.

On the Parkrun front there were two fantastic wins for Ilkley runners.

First up was Jack Wood, who warmed up for his Brass Monkey exploits with victory at Myrtle Park in Bingley.

His time of 17:14 was just two seconds outside the course record.

And Michael Lomas was a winner in Wales, with his 18:42 landing the spoils at a breezy Barry Island.

There was also a first sub-18 minute Parkrun from Steven Gott, whose 17:59 was good enough for third place from 500+ runners at Bradford’s Lister Park.

And further afield a couple of Harriers were mixing with Mickey Mouse and co at the Disney Half and Full Marathon weekend in Orlando!

Tom Lally was in the top 1,000 (out of 18,000 finishers) in the Half with a time of 1:49:04, while Daryl King was using it as a warm-up event for the Disney Marathon the very next day.

King clocked 2:10:09 in the Half and then 24 hours later completed the 26.2-mile event in 4:19:09.

JONATHAN TURNER