AS if 32 miles wasn’t enough of a test, runners at the Haworth Hobble ultra on Saturday were battered by strong winds, driving rain and even hail.

Ilkley Harriers' Colin Williams and Adela Reperecki were both up to the challenge - and rewarded with sunshine at the end as four seasons really were rolled into one day.

An ultra is any race over and above the marathon distance of 26 miles and the strength-sapping headwind for the first 10 miles added to the drama, as did over 5,000 feet of climbing.

Williams was 88th in a time just under six hours, while Reperecki was 167th in 6:47:30.

Plenty of Ilkley’s runners ran a half marathon or similar over the weekend as they built up preparations for the upcoming Manchester and London marathons.

The former is on Dan McKeown’s target list, and he’s very much on course judging by his performance at the Dentdale 14.

A 14.2-mile event staged on the roads and lanes around Dentdale, it follows a figure-of-eight route, winding up hill and down dale. And Dan was a superb sixth out of 283 competitors in one hour, 27 minutes and 51 seconds.

Fellow Harrier David Ibbotson was also in action there as he continues his excellent comeback from injury - and his wife Elaine claimed first place in the F60 category at the Dentdale 7 which is run alongside.

Another Manchester marathon hopeful is Dick Waddington and his latest stepping stone to that was the Liverpool Landmarks half marathon on Sunday.

Again the elements - in the shape of a headwind on some of the more exposed sections - made life difficult but Waddington crossed the line in 131st place out of over 3,000 runners, in one hour, 30 minutes and 10 seconds.

Not far behind was Jane McCarthy, whose time of 1:33:53 also put her in the top 200 - and was good enough for first place in the F45 age category.

The London Marathon is coming into view for Mike Abrams-Cohen and he described Sunday’s Spenborough 20-miler as the “perfect preparation”.

He was the sole Harrier to take on the two 10-mile laps starting on the Queen Mary’s track and got his pacing spot-on, crossing the line in 70th place in 2:35:36.

Elsewhere over the weekend, Jack Wood was representing Yorkshire to great effect at the British Athletics inter-county cross country at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough.

He was the sixth counter for his team, in 93rd place, which helped them to take seventh overall in the standings.

And at the Trafford 10K, Nick Helliwell came close to dipping under the 40 minutes-mark, stopping the clock in 40:22.

On the Parkrun front, Oscar Stapleton was first finisher at Riverside (Chester-le-Street) and closer to home Rachel Carter was first woman home at Skipton.

The inaugural Parkrun in Centre Vale park in Todmorden was a huge success, with almost 200 people turning out despite the inclement weather. Harrier Will Worboys has been instrumental in setting the new event up, and it looks set to go from strength to strength.