ILKLEY Harriers' teams excelled at the British Fell Relay Championships on Saturday.

Both the men's and women's open squads making the top 10, while the men's V40 line-up came fifth in their category.

The fell relay championships took place on Howden Moors in Derbyshire, and the ladies got off to a flying start on the solo first leg (7.65km, 369m climbing), thanks to Bernadette Raven.

Kate Archer and Jane McCarthy combined brilliantly on the paired second leg (12.3km, 484m), Helen Wood and Fay Walsh had a near-perfect navigational run on leg three (11.2km, 550m) and then Alison Weston rounded off the good work on leg four (7.85km, 375m) to seal a superb ninth place.

That was very nearly matched by the men, who were 10th out of 80 teams who completed.

There were consistently strong runs throughout from Istvan Jacso, Nathan Edmondson, Jack Cummings and Jon Dennis, with the highlight being Jack Wood and Will Simmons' fifth place on leg three.

And the speedy 'veterans' line up of Iain Gibbons, Ben Sheppard, Nick Helliwell, Paul Carman, Dan McKeown and Steve Gott placed in the top 10 of every leg in their category.

The ever-popular Yorkshire Marathon took place on Sunday, with Rob Cunningham leading home a small but select Harriers' contingent in an impressive 3:06:05 on the route in and around York.

Tom Lally also had plenty to celebrate after his first-ever 26.2-mile race saw him achieve his sub-four hour target, while Paula Reynier - encouraged all the way by husband Dave - finished with an excellent time of 4:24:18.

In the 10-mile event which took place the same day, there were strong runs from Stephanie Fox (1:25:32) and Amelia Miles (1:38:28).

Gavin Lamb was an outstanding fourth (out of 401 finishers) in the Ultra-Tour of Edinburgh on Sunday.

This 57km jaunt around the capital began with a Braveheart charge down the most famous street in Scotland – the Royal Mile.

The course then weaved through streets, alleyways, onto hills, up crags, past monuments, museums, seats of Royalty, Government and up and down 3,000 feet of ascent and descent.

"It was an Ultra which took in every type of race I could think of," said Lamb after crossing the line in 5:21:47, just eight minutes behind the winner. "That's the box ticked on a completed Ultra - but never again!"

Also pushing his endurance to the limit was Colin Williams at the Langdale Road Marathon.

It was his second marathon in seven days and is advertised as 'the toughest road marathon in the UK' with 3,400 feet of climbing and some assents as steep as 33 per cent gradient.

It was won by Sean Warburton in a time of 3:11:42, with Williams 34th (out of 140) in 4:03:57.

On the Parkrun front, there was an impressive win at Highbury Fields in 17:10 for Oscar Stapleton, while Mike Abrams-Cohen clocked an 18:44 personal best at Stretford.

Catherine Gibbons and Jann Smith both registered times of 22:22, with the former the second lady at Skipton and the latter the third home at Fountains Abbey.