GAVIN Lamb has become the latest Ilkley Harrier to conquer an epic ultra running adventure.

Last weekend he competed in 'The Wall', a 70-mile Rat Race-organised event from Carlisle to Newcastle, roughly following the route of Hadrian's Wall.

The measure for success in this race is definitely just getting to the end, however long it takes.

Starting early on Saturday morning, many competitors walk through day and night to arrive at the finishing line on Sunday. Not Lamb though, who managed to start and finish in daylight, clocking a hugely impressive time of 15 and a half hours.

"Never, ever again", he was heard saying afterwards!

The weekend also saw more success at elite level for the Harriers' Rhys Jones in this year's latest World Triathlon Para Cup event.

Taking place in A Coruna on the northwest tip of Spain, Jones used his running speed to take a commendable fifth place in the visually impaired classification, alongside his guide Rhys James.

Battling competitors from as far afield as Japan, he'd already set a new personal best in the opening swimming leg, clocking 12:46 for the 750 metres.

And after a solid performance on the bike, he rounded things off in style with another PB of 17:28 for the run, which was fractionally under 5km.

Closer to home Craig Berry made the top 10 in the Glorious Gargrave Half Marathon on Sunday with a time of 1:45:18 for the out-and-back route on the canal.

And Kate Lofthouse found a nice way to celebrate her birthday as she was joined by fellow Harriers Sarah Hayes and Sue Williamson in the first-ever Leeds Epic Trail 10k.

The trio all crossed the line together at Temple Newsam in a time of 1:19 for the undulating course.

With step 3 Covid restrictions still in place until mid-July at the earliest, race organisers have had to adjust accordingly.

Two popular local 10-mile races at Otley and Eccup will be run in waves of six and 10 runners respectively in the coming days and effectively in time-trial format.

And virtual events are still proving popular too.

The latest example was the Jack Bloor race on Ilkley Moor, which featured over 50 entrants, and the Harriers were well represented.

Using a mobile phone app, runners had to tick off six checkpoints between the start and finish, with the distances of the submitted runs ranging from 9.15km to 12.45km illustrating the navigational challenge!

In the women's race, Rachel Pilling of Pudsey and Bramley AC just pipped Ilkley's Kate Archer by 14 seconds to take top spot.

And in the men's standings, Jack Cummings registered the fastest average pace but had to settle for a creditable third place behind Ted Mason (Wharfedale Harriers) and Adam Osborne (Calder Valley).

Overall, it was a very successful weekend for the Harriers, with Lamb's 70 mile Rat-Race being the stand out.