HUSBAND and wife Martyn and Izzy Pollitt had an unorthodox family day out on Sunday – both took on the gruelling Ironman challenge round Bolton.

The Burnden Road Runners couple, who have been established endurance athletes for some years, put in formidable showings, both finishing high up their division rankings.

Martyn was eighth M55 in a superb 12hrs 12mins 47secs, placing him inside the top 400 in 391st place.

He finished the 3.9km Pennington Flash swim in 1:21:28 before a fantastic effort on the bike, averaging 29kph, lifted him into sixth as he entered the second transition at Middlebrook.

He ran a solid marathon time of 4:19:50 to complete his fantastic effort.

Izzy was 10th F50 in 14:06:24 and was just outside the top 100 female finishers in 103rd place. She emerged from the water in 1:41:07 and covered the bike course in less than seven hours, posting 6:59:48 for the 180.2km. She completed the marathon in 5:09:00.

Another couple, Jeff and Christine Pendlebury, were in action together, taking on the Windmill Half Marathon in Lytham along with Michael Cook.

Cook completed the flat, picturesque course in 1:53:20, with Jeff (2:20:03) next in and Christine finishing in 2:27:11.

Lesley Fisher was first F55 and the fourth female finisher in the Burnley Leisure Five-Mile Trail Race at the Pendle Running Festival, coming home in 44:08.

Don Nichol was second M60 in 46:13, less than three minutes behind the category winner.

Colin Faulds visited Ingleton Gala on Saturday to run the 6.8-mile Ingleborough Fell Race, a gruelling linear course with a climb of 1,900ft

Faulds put in a great effort to finish 45th overall in 1:03:52.

Tim Taylor ran 50:03 in London's Great Newham 10k, a popular race which finishes with a lap of the Olympic Stadium.

A great turn-out of 36 Road Runners headed to Radcliffe AC's Bull Hill Fell Race, with several getting their first taste of fell running.

Andy Staveley was the first Burnden runner to finish in 41:50, coming 18th overall and first M55. Keith Thomas was second M55 in 42:58.

Paula Pilling (49:44) was first F40 and the fifth female finisher and seven seconds later Lesley Fisher claimed second place in F55 as the sixth female finisher.

Other category successes included Paul Duke’s fourth place M40 in 45:13, Ed Ashton who was third M50 in 46:32 and Don Nichol, fourth M60 in 54:31.

Shirley Staveley was third F50 in 55:28 and Gwen Kinloch’s 55:59 gave her third in the F55 category.

Lyndsay Derbyshire and Lucille Corrigan claimed third and fourth in the F45 group with times of 58:55 and 59:21 respectively.

Phil Glassbrook took second place in the M70 group in 1:06:54.

Other results:

Christophe Menand 46:49, Marcus Taylor 47:30, Rob Short 47:47, Laurence Keighley 49:33, Andy Duffy 50:00, Adrian Merritt 51:32, Mark Butler 53:09, Tim Taylor 54:46, Colm O’Brien 55:01, Lawrence McDonald 55:08, Steve Bate 55:29, Dave Aulton 58:08, Andy Warburton 59:04, John Edge 59:32, Dave Pearson 1:05:56, Julie Newton 1:06:22, Phil Holden 1:06:23, Jackie Oakes 1:08:08, Sally Cottrill 1:12:45, Fiona Ashton 1:13:06, Gemma Chapman 1:26:23, Louise Geoghegan 1:37:11, Peter Whiteside 1:37:58, Gillian McGowan 1:37:58.