ILKLEY runners were out in force again at the weekend, across the UK and beyond.

Jack Wood produced another outstanding display on the international stage as he helped the England team to a superb fifth place at the Trofeo Vanoni mountain relay in Italy on Sunday.

Wood clocked 32 minutes and 12 seconds in the first leg, handing over to Chris Arthur (32:27) and Sam Stead (34:00) who continued the good work to secure a top-five spot in a field of over 150 teams.

Wood also registered the 15th quickest individual time.

Another testing event was the Snowdonia Marathon which follows a spectacular route, encircling Snowdon, Wales’ highest peak.

Lucy Williamson was the sole Harriers representative but she performed brilliantly to make the top 30 in the female standings and leading 300 overall, out of over 2,000 runners.

Starting and finishing in Llanberris, the race threw all sorts of weather at the participants as well as three big climbs.

It started under sunny skies but there was snow on the mountain tops and a burst of hailstones midway through.

Williamson was to the fore from the off and was going strongly up to mile 23, at the top of the third and final climb.

Heavy legs made the last three miles extremely demanding but encouragement from the large crowd got her to the finish in a great time of three hours, 43 minutes and 55 seconds.

The race was won by Kent AC’s Russell Bentley in 2:38:31.

Cold and sunny conditions also greeted runners at the Bronte Way on Sunday.

An eight-mile point-to-point route, with 1,152 feet of climbing along the scenic Bronte Way, the race started in Wycoller and finished on the cobbles in Haworth.

Jim Ryder led a trio of Harriers home, crossing the line in 21st position in 1:02:55.

Jo Foster was 89th in 1:18:48 and Caroline Howe 107th in 1:22:58 , with 235 runners taking part.

Also popular on Sunday were the Bradford City 10K and half marathon, with some excellent Harriers results.

Steven Gott and Steve Murray led the way in the former by finishing fifth and 11th respectively in 37:41 and 40:45, while Will Worboys clocked 51:47. Gott also claimed top spot in his M40 age category.

In the half marathon there was a top-20 finish for Gavin Lamb (and the leading M35-40 time).

He covered the 13.1-miles in one hour, 31 minutes and 39 seconds.

There were also some impressive ‘away-parkrun’ results over weekend, with Oscar Stapleton winning the Lancaster event in 17 minutes and 57 seconds.

Rebecca Mon-Williams was the second lady at the spectacular setting of Crissy Field in San Francisco, in view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Kate Archer was third female in Oxford while, closer to home, Michael Lomas came fourth overall in Bradford.

A special mention too for both Hilda Coulsey and Geoff Howard who were second and third respectively in the overall age-grade standings at Bradford - out of 365 participants.

And there was no faster 5km time from a Harrier last week than Nathan Edmondson’s 15:39 to take second place at the Even Splits event at the Brownlee Centre Cycle Circuit in Leeds last Wednesday evening.

JONATHAN TURNER