OTLEY AC held their annual Round Hill Fell Race at the weekend with four runners getting under the hour for the 8.7-mile route on the moors to the west of Timble.

First home was Lee Athersmith (Wharfedale Harriers) in 55:35, second was Harry Holmes (York Knavesmire) in 56:48 and third was Marc Sennett (Wharfedale) in 58:37 with Otley's Liam Dunne fourth and first MV40 in 59:35.

After heavy rain last year, this year saw much better weather for the marshals, although it was probably a little on the warm side for those who were racing.

Ian Rowbotham (Harrogate Harriers) was first MV50 in 1:06:00 and the first MV60 and MV70 were Nick Pearce (1:06:52) and Graham Breeze (1:29:43) respectively, both from Ilkley Harriers.

There was a closer battle at the head of the ladies race as Rachel Pilling (Pudsey & Bramley) finished 19 seconds ahead of Otley AC's Laura Clark who finished in 1:09:08.

Carol Morgan (Nidd Valley) was third and first Vet 40 and Sally Houghton (Ripon Runners) had one of the performances of the day, finishing fourth and first FV50 with a time of 1:11:11. Not to be outdone Sue Morley (Ilkley) established a new FV60 record with a time of 1:30:07.

The other Otley AC times were Edward Davies (1:00:49), Tom Lynch (1:06:23), Andy Hunt (1:07:52), Steve Robinson (1:08:23), Tom Pomfrett (1:12:43), Andrew Webster (1:19:32), Matt Podd (1:22:50), Mary Hampshire (1:26:53), Kirsty Pomfrett (1:28:54), Chris Brunold (1:34:14), David Cattanach (1:53:10) and Antonio Cardinale (2:10:14).

Much further afield, Phil Robinson took part in the Alaska 10k completing in 50:17, with the being Forest Tarbath in 33:50.

The race is based at Alaska Pacific University, in Anchorage, and Phil said: "The route was gently undulating and the temperature at the start was about 15C, climbing to 20 later in the day, and with a bit of sun and no breeze it was warm work."

In the Askern 10 mile, Mark Hall finished in 11th place and first MV55 in 59:17, with the winner being Carl Ryde (Doncaster) in 54:56.

He said "Today was made difficult by the very hot temperature. The cloud cover disappeared five minutes before the start and reappeared 10 minutes after the finish, making for a very hard race."

Aiecentre Pacers' husband and wife, Matt and Sue Tupling, tackled the Isle of Man Half Marathon in times of 1:38 and 2:04 respectively.