JACK Wood led the charge for Ilkley on another busy weekend of racing for the Harriers with two podium finishes.

On Saturday, he defied the epic weather wrought by Storm Callum, taking third place in the Langdale Horseshoe, a classic 21-kilometre fell race in the Lake District which features 1,450 metres of climbing and multiple navigational challenges.

Strong winds, driving rain and poor visibility made the going even tougher than normal, with less than half of the original 520 entries making it to the start and then another 62 retiring mid-race or missing checkpoints.

But Wood was always to the fore in the extreme conditions, claiming third place in two hours and 31 minutes, six minutes behind winner Rhys Findlay-Robinson.

And then on Sunday, Wood starred again, bagging second place in a thrilling conclusion to the Rombalds Romp.

The eight-mile fell race on Ilkley Moor was dominated by Wood and Alasdair McLeod, with the Leeds City man prevailing by just a single second.

Ilkley had three runners in the top ten at Rombalds, with Ben Sheppard sixth and Jeff Green ninth, that pair also topping the M40 and M50 age groups respectively.

Meanwhile back in the Lakes, Harriers Jack Cummings and Iain Gibbons both excelled at the Wasdale Show fell race.

The race distance may only be 2.4 miles, but it packs in a fearsome ascent of over 700 metres to the summit of Kirk Fell and then a dash back down.

Cummings was second behind Simon Bailey in a time of 20 minutes and three seconds, while Gibbons (21:49) crossed the line in seventh and was first in his M45 age category.

At the other end of the distance spectrum was the "Lakes in a Day" event, and Harrier Andrew Merrick battled valiantly against the heavy rain and daunting terrain to cover 29 miles in just under 11 hours.

In Scotland, Dick Waddington took on his own ultra challenge, registering an impressive 13th place at the imaginatively-titled "Adventures into Wonderland" trail race in Perthshire, completing the 64km route in just over eight hours.

One of the highlights of the Yorkshire road running calendar also took place at the weekend, with the Yorkshire Marathon attracting over 4,000 competitors.

The exceptionally wet conditions could not prevent Derek Oliver from producing another excellent marathon effort, stopping the clock in 3:16:28, for fifth in his M55 age category.

Simon Jenkins (3:52:17), Harry Sime (4:04:04) and Clare Boyle (4:22:59), the latter two taking part in their first marathon, also had plenty of smile about.

The 10-mile event, which ran alongside, saw top-20 age category positions for both Helen Waddington and Sheena Pickersgill, with Stephanie Fox and Andrew McCallion notching fine runs as well.

Finally, plenty of Harriers enjoyed Parkruns on Saturday morning, with arguably the standout performance coming from Helen Thurston, who was the first lady at Harrogate in a superb time of 19:20.