FOUR - not three - was the magic number for Ilkley Harriers.

First up was Tom Adams' remarkable achievement of winning all four races at the Cyprus International Four-Day Challenge, organised by 2:09 Events.

The series got under way with a 6km Time Trial, with Adams clocking 18 minutes and 55 seconds for first place, over a minute clear of his nearest rival, Germany's Balthasar Larisch.

The following day it was an 11km Hill Climb and the one-two was the same, but the terrain saw even greater dominance from Adams as he triumphed by nearly four minutes.

On Saturday - and despite it being a trail rather than road event - he recorded a club record Half Marathon time by a Harrier in the 35-39 age bracket.

His one hour 11 minutes 17 seconds surpassed Eddie Irving's 1.11.21 from the Brass Monkey race near York in 2000.

And win number four to round off a perfect few days came in the 10km City Run.

All the more impressive given his earlier exertions, his time of 31.17 was the fastest by a Harrier over the distance this year.

Also in action a little closer to home from Thursday through to Sunday was Colin Williams in Grim Up North's Swinsty & Fewston 4x4 Marathons.

Having never run back-to-back marathons, taking on four in consecutive days was a significant challenge for Williams.

But it was one he was more than up to, starting with his seventh-place finish on the Thursday in a time of 3.49.49.

His runs on days two and three were understandably a little slower but he still made the top 15 on each occasion and then - perhaps knowing that Monday was a rest day - he registered his second-fastest time of the week on the Sunday despite the wet conditions.

Also on the Sunday, the first PECO Cross-Country race of the season began in the best possible style for Ilkley as Nathan Edmondson ran out a clear-cut winner of the men's event.

In what proved to be a bit of a mud-fest at Temple Newsam, more than 1,000 runners took part and Edmondson crossed the line in 27.13, which was 20 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

And a strong all-round Harriers display saw Matt Cox (24th), Dan McKeown (26th) and Steve Gott (34th) all clock times under 31 minutes.

In the ladies race, the leading Harrier was Caroline Howe, who was 79th in 40.27, with Anna Nolan and Jane Bryant also making the top 100.

The same day, Sally Armitage was the sole Harrier representative at the Doncaster 10k - and she smashed her personal best time.

Hoping to get close to 40 minutes on the route which started and finished at the town's racecourse, she actually went well under that mark for the first time with a 39.14.

More than 2,500 runners took part and she was the 10th lady to cross the finish line and third in her F40 age group.

On the 5k parkrun front, Nathan Edmondson had started the weekend as he finished it - with a win. He was first at Woodhouse Moor in 16.18.

Beth Massey was the first lady at Bradford, Ruaridh Mon-Williams was second at Edinburgh and Mike Abrams-Cohen was fourth at Skipton.

Results: Cyprus 10km City Run: 1 Tom Adams 31.17, 313 finished; Cyprus Trail Half-Marathon: 1 Tom Adams 1.11.17, 275 finished; Cyprus 11km Hill Climb: 1 Tom Adams 45.46, 262 finished; Cyprus 6km Time Trial: 1 Tom Adams 18.55, 273 finished.

PECO XC: Men: 1 Nathan Edmondson 27.13, 24 Matt Cox 30.28; 26 Dan Mckeown 30.33; 34 Steve Gott 30.52; 85 Jaysson Sawyer 32.42; 107 Steve Murray 33.25; 134 Dave Westhead 34.25; 210 Simon Richardson 36.18; 215 Rob Budding 36.25; 376 David Singleton 41.21; 385 Matthew Snow 41.40; 428 Geoffrey White 43.14, 562 finished.

Ladies: 1 Alice Leake, Leeds 31.26; 79 Caroline Howe 40.27; 98 Anna Nolan 41.32; 99 Jane Bryant 41.32; 137 Alison Bennett 43.29; 155 Helen Waddington 44.21; 184 Adela Reperecki 45.11; 185 Ros Brown 45.19; 190 Helen Horton 45.27; 195 Diane Kitchen 45.38; 219 Anna Pickering 46.30; 220 Nicola Budding 46.32; 310 Jacqui Weston 49.46; 367 Sue Williamson 52.47; 390 Sally Wright 54.13, 470 finished.

Doncaster 10km: 1 Nick Martin, Caistor RC 31.26; 141 Sally Armitage 39.14, 2,515 ran.

parkruns: Bradford: 1 Michael McCartney, Bingley Harriers 17.54; 31 Beth Massey 1st F 22.07, 295 ran.

Cardiff: 1 Jack Hope, Kettering Town Harriers 15.50; 25 Alex Hirst 18.24, 576 ran.

Centre Vale: 1 Andy Ford, Todmorden Harriers 18.09; 33 Will Worboys 25.36, 121 ran.

Edinburgh: 1 Sam Brown, Edinburgh AC 16.13; 2 Ruaridh Mon-Williams 17.19, 565 ran.

Ellenbrook Fields: 1 Rowan Daly, St Albans AC 17.17; 138 Melanie Edwards 27.45, 278 ran.

Roundhay: 1 Oliver Roberts, Dark Peak 18.44; 172 Petra Bijsterveld 30.23, 245 ran.

Skipton: 1 Samuel William, Skipton AC 18.00; 4 Michael Abrams-Cohen 19.11; 27 Harry Sime 23.25, 152 ran.

Warrington: 1 Daniel Fox, Warrington AC 16.58; 60 Tom Worboys 22.41, 420 ran.

Woodhouse Moor: 1 Nathan Edmondson 16.18, 400 ran.