SCOTT Harrington enjoyed a fantastic run at the Yorkshire Marathon to finish third for the second successive year in a race won by Ross Houston.

Recent injury had put a dent in Harrington's training and made even getting to Sunday's start line doubtful.

He finally made the decision to run as preparation for the Snowdonia Marathon in a few weeks' time. A podium position and a time of 2:30:55 suggest this was a good decision.

Following Harrington home for Otley AC was Stephen Boddy (3:39:17) and then came two marathon debutants in Robin Outtersides and Nicola Lee, who finished in 3:41:46 and 3:52:08 respectively.

Lee's dedicated training programme resulted in a richly deserved sub-four first marathon.

Andrew Webster finished his seemingly weekly marathon in his target time of 3:57:31 – and completing the set was club president Andrew Raynor, who overcame illness to finish in 4:36:51.

A great day out in York was added to by some excellent results in the ten-mile race as well.

Mohammad Abubakr led the Black and Whites home in an excellent 1:10:07, followed by Sara Elliott in 1:16:41, Gilly Wight (1:19:37), Tony Pfeiffer (1:19:56), Gavin Burton (1:25:28) and Natasha Whittaker (1:48:08).

The Colin Best Calverley Handicap was won easily by Tom Hannah, a veteran of more than 200 races.

He finished a couple of minutes clear of Ian Fisher, who – perhaps inevitably – recorded the fastest time of the day, just a little slower than his own course record.

With two races to go – Weeton in November and then December's Ken Dixon Race – this year's title pursuit looks set to be a thrilling battle between Rob Fearnley, Laura Hind and Antonio Cardinale on 156, 142 and 138 points respectively.

Rumours that Fearnley as already done six reccies of the Weeton course are completely unsubstantiated.