Emma Clayton (Bingley Harriers) took Lads Leap in her stride as the region’s top fell runners descended on the Dark Peak area to contest a 5.9-mile fell race incorpotating the Derbyshire Championships and 1,700 feet of climbing.

Clayton saw off a field of 112 to win the female race in 52min 35sec on an A-category course rising sharply out of Crowden near Glossop to ‘The Leap’, prior to a circuit strewn with heather, rock and peat and a fierce descent to the finish.

Jo Waites (Calder) was runner up in the LV40 category in eighth overall, with team-mate Helen Fines (sixth) and Holmfith’s Helen Berry (fifth) joining her in the top ten.

Graham Pearce (fourth), of Pudsey & Bramley, was West Yorkshire’s nearest challenger to race winner Simon Bailey (Mercia), who won the men's race in 44:16. Ilkley’s Tom Adams was just three seconds adrift of Pearce in fifth.

Karl Gray (Calder) was second V40 in ninth spot, followed by Darren Kay (P&B). Joe Mercer (Skipton), Andy Peace (Bingley) and Gav Mulholland (Calder) made the top 30 among over 300 male runners.

A much flatter route welcomed survivors of last week’s Spen 20 and aspirant London Marathon runners as the East Hull 20-Miler took to the roads on Sunday.

Otley’s Karen Potter was first F40 in sixth overall, setting 2hr 26min in a race won by Tyne Triathlon Club’s Helen Waugh (2:09).

Aileen Baldwin cracked the top 30 in 2:39 to clinch the V60 category, while Diana Campbell (Baildon) showed promise for London by knocking eight minutes off her Spen time to finish 16th in 2:32.

John Beattie (Newham & Essex) won the male event in a jaw-dropping time of 1:45:17.

Ryan Turnbull (Pudsey Pacers) made 15th in 2:05:44, while Saltaire’s Mick Brearley and Ilkley’s John Sinclair both broke the two-hour, ten-minute barrier on their way to the top 30 overall, and second and fourth in the V50 category respectively.