THE inaugural Bolton Abbey Trail Festival took place in miserable conditions, but Otley AC athletes Lee Gumbrell and Rob Fearnley could be happy with their efforts over different distances.

The event offered races of two miles, 10 kilometres, a half marathon and 20 miles. Gumbrell plumped for the latter, seeing it as good preparation ahead of his run in the Berlin marathon on September 9.

He put in a fine performance too, finishing seventh out of 34 competitors in a time of three hours, 11 minutes and 10 seconds.

Fearnley meanwhile decided to run the 10k on what was a treacherous, steep and muddy course and he came 62nd overall, with a time of 1:09:07.

Otley's Ian Broadbent did the Lancaster Riverside Half Marathon on Sunday. On a track with a slight gradient followed by a gentle descent back into Lancaster, Broadbent was looking to improve on his previous run in Morecambe last month.

He was on course for his target time of 1:45:00 but tweaked something at 11 miles, so unfortunately the last two miles took him 22 minutes and lots of limping.

However, his finishing time of 1:57:15 to come 93rd did see him make a slight improvement on his effort in Morecambe, where he completed the course in 1:59:23.

Finally, Nick Hodgkinson came home in 57 minutes and 44 seconds at the Rusland Fell Race, held in the stunningly beautiful Rusland Valley in the South Lakes.

The course is five miles long with over a thousand feet of climbing, making it perhaps less challenging than typical Lakes fell races. However, it was still a tough run for Hodgkinson, who staggered home nearly 30 minutes behind the winner.