ALISON Bennett rounded off a week to remember on Sunday as she headlined some fantastic Ilkley Harrier performances.

For she celebrated her 60th birthday in perfect style by starting the day with a stunning display at the Aintree 10k.

On a two-lap route around the famous racecourse which passed the iconic Red Rum statue, galloped along the Melling Road and finished in front of the grandstand, the going was most definitely good as she clocked a time of 43 minutes and 30 seconds.

To put that into perspective, that put her way clear at the top of her new age category and saw her finish as third lady overall from the hundreds of runners who took part.

It also set a new all-time club record, beating the previous best mark by nearly six minutes.

And it followed hot on the heels of her final race in the 55-59 age band, where she was also third lady overall at the return of the Harrogate Summer Race League.

The first 'actual' race in the popular series (there have also been plenty of virtual ones) took place on a warm and sunny Wednesday evening at Sicklinghall, and a small but select Harriers team made their mark.

Dan Dry took second place overall behind Otley AC's Scott Harrington, the recent Ilkley Half Marathon winner.

And there were age category podium places for Colin Williams (MV55) and Philip Hirst (MV60).

There was little doubt about last week's most challenging event - the Lakeland 100, a 100-mile ultra tour of the Lake District.

Dubbed the most spectacular long-distance trail race in the UK, the circular route starts from Coniston at 6pm on the Friday evening and encompasses the whole of the Lakeland fells, with around 6,300m of ascent!

Only around 50-60% of the starters complete it each year within the 40-hour cut-off limit, and in that bracket this time was Ilkley's Ben Sheppard, who made it back in just under 30 hours to place 68th of the 300+ male finishers.

Almost as epic was the Lakeland 50 which followed the second - and more spectacular half - of the 100 route.

And it saw another incredible run from Jane McCarthy, the female winner of both the Dales Highway and Lakeland Trails' 55km Ultra this year.

She was the fifth lady (and second FV40) in a time of 10:21:58 while fellow Harrier Kate Archer also conquered the route in 12:49:56.

At the other end of the distance spectrum, Saturday also saw the welcome return of park runs in England.

And plenty of Harriers - 19 in total - took advantage.

Oscar Stapleton set the fastest time for the 5k test.

His eye-catching time of 16:28 earning him second place at Morecambe Prom.

And closer to home, there were third-place finishes for both Rob Cunningham (18:11 at Skipton) and Steve Gott (18:36 at Bradford).

It capped off a brilliant all-round weekend once again for the Harriers.