THE Bank Holiday weekend saw Lostock AC's Tony Marlow and Albert Sunter head to the Pyrenees in southern France for one of Europe's most prestigious mountain running events, the Grand Raid des Pyrenees.

Attracting the elite of European and international fell and ultra runners, Marlow and Sunter tested themselves to the limits on the longest of the three races during the five-day running festival, the 167k Ultra Tour.

Marlow and Sunter were amongst the 410 hardy souls to start the Ultra Tour at 5am on Friday knowing they also faced 10,000m of climbing and 10,000m of descent in the 167k.

A total of 45-and-a-half hours later, Marlow and Sunter crossed the finish line 34th and 35th in their age-group category.

The toughness of the feat achieved by the Lostock pair was highlighted further by the fact that, of the 410 who started the Ultra Tour with Marlow and Sunter, only 240 finished.

Closer to home, Cathy Stratton continues to impress in her first full season of triathlon by being the fourth-placed woman at the West Lancs Autumn triathlon at Ormskirk.

A swim time of 7mins 18secs for the 400m swim was followed by a 38:26 bike split and a final 5k run of 23:35 for an overall time of 1:13:51.

Josie Greenhalgh headed to Ambleside for the first of the Kong Mini Mountain marathon series, finishing 15th in her age group with 120 points in 2:12:47.

Parkrun results saw David Wilcock achieve a personal-best time of 26:32 at Haigh Hall parkrun, with Alison Wilcock finishing in 37:34.

At Bolton parkrun, Andy Laycock turned in a time of 24:34.