A bright warm Dales day greeted the runners for the 56th Yorkshire Three Peaks Race.

Morgan Donnelly of Borrowdale was well to the front right from the first checkpoint on the top of Pen-y-ghent before opening up a two-minute lead in the run across to Ribblehead viaduct.

The lead was brought down to a minute by John Brown of Salford Harriers after the run over Whernside to the Hill Inn.

However, Donnelly was not to be caught, and by the top of Ingleborough had extended the lead and went on to finish four minutes ahead of his nearest rival.

The “big guns” from Bingley Harriers were missing this year and it was left to Tim Midgley, Robin Lawrence and Paul Mitchell to take up the challenge.

Tim, who has been posting impressive results in road races recently, set his stall out early on and was in sixth place at Pen-y-ghent and third by Ribblehead.

But his early efforts caught up with him as he faded to finish 20th.

Robin ran consistently throughout, always in the top 15, and led the Bingley team home in 11th, while Paul started off steadily and moved through to finish 18th.

Notable performances from other West Yorkshire athletes were Chris Birchall (Leeds City, fourth), Nicholas Leigh, Richard Pattinson and Gary Devine of Pudsey & Bramley (fifth, seventh and 15th).

With Brian Stevenson in 30th, Pudsey & Bramley took the men’s team prize.

First lady across the line was Anna Lupton of Radcliffe in an impressive 22nd spot.

Bingley’s international Victoria Wilkinson came second in her first attempt at the race, finishing 33rd overall.

Among the first runners to register for the race on the day were Bingley’s Stephen Fry and Andy Nicoll, who by 7.30am had already completed one lap of the course.

They completed the race proper in 5hr 40min and then went on to run a third “lap of honour”.

They raised over £1,800 for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal.

The money was raised in memory of Bingley clubmate Jenny Vesey who died of cancer after winning the over-60 category in the 2009 race.