THE weather decimated the running calendar for the third weekend in a row.

But this time it also positively added to the spectacle, with the National Cross Country Championships taking place at Wollaton Park in Nottingham.

Even by the standards of the event, the mud this year was epic - so much so that videos went viral on social media and made the BBC website.

Ilkley Harriers runner Malcolm Pickering, who first took part back in 1968, described it as "near the top of the mud scale" since then.

Dom Coy led the way for Ilkley, with an impressive 26th place in the Junior Men's race, while Rachel Carter made the top 200 in a stacked field for the Senior Women.

This national event saw on average almost 400 runners in each age group, with 12 junior Harriers also taking part.

Notable results for them were a superb 14th place for Emily Gibbins in the Under-15 Girls and 30th place for Alexander Wolfenden in the Under-13 Boys.

A small Harriers contingent took part in the Senior Men's Race and they were led home by Dan McKeown.

Not long after washing off the mud from that, he headed for the Harewood Trail 10k on Sunday and had the bonus of an extra couple of hours of recovery as the start was delayed due to a saturated parking area.

Conditions were still far less extreme than at Nottingham and McKeown was to the fore from the outset in a field of 400 runners.

He swept into the lead after the first kilometre and pulled further and further clear of the chasing pack, the only vaguely anxious moment coming when he tripped in the closing stages.

Dusting himself down he still had a couple of minutes to spare, with Jonathan Turner a distant second for a Harriers one-two.

On a good day all round for the club, Jane McCarthy was the decisive winner of the women's race, while there were age category prizes for Colin Williams (first MV50) and Hilda Coulsey (first FV60).

But arguably the Harriers' performance of the week came from Oli Murphy in the Brighton Half Marathon.

A field of well over 7,000 runners assembled for this popular event but they were tested by strong winds on the seafront route.

Murphy though took it all in his stride with a spectacular display to finish in 11th place in a time of 1:14.01, impressive by any standards but all the more so in the conditions.

Another great Harriers' display that day came from Sally Armitage at the Huddersfield 10k.

On what was a seriously hilly course, she was first lady home (and 33rd overall out of 568) in a time of 42.02.

And Nick Kealey was third overall in the Canalathon 20 from Rochdale to Sowerby Bridge.

On the Parkrun front, Nathan Edmondson notched his weekly win at Woodhouse Moor (in 16.22 for the 5km) while Lucy Williamson excelled at Conwy - her 19.01 placing her third overall and leading female.

RESULTS

National Cross Country Championships, Saturday

Under-17 Women: (1 21.49 Maya Todd-McIntyre, Rushcliffe AC), 213 29.03 Poppy Anderson. 257 ran; Junior Men: (1 36.27 Zakariya Mahamed, Southampton AC), 26 39.05 Dom Coy, 195 ran.; Senior Women: (1 32.59 Anna Moller, Aldershot, Farnham and District AC), 167 41.03 Rachel Carter, 544 49.55 Sarah Edwards, 765 57.03 Petra Bijsterveld, 799 58.29 Anna Pickering, 808 58.43 Sally Pickering, 911 ran.; Senior Men: (1 43:36 Calum Johnson, Gateshead Harriers), 432 53.47 Dan McKeown, 1169 65.32 Steve Coy, 1447 71.57 Malcolm Pickering, 1,710 ran. Additional junior results - Under-13 Girls: Helena Coy (144); Under-13 Boys: Alexander Wolfenden (30), Archie Budding (66), Dylan Shinn (117), Caleb Dix (204), Ethan Doyle (347), Oscar Shinn (380); Under-15 Girls: Emily Gibbins (14), Beth Rogers (172), Erin Doyle (327)