Winter Hill Runner, Albert Sunter competed in his 15th Grand Raid Pyrenees race last weekend and finished well.

He completed the 80km race with 5,000m of elevation in a fantastic 17hrs 28mins.

Over the last 15 years, Sunter has competed in both the 100-mile race and the 50-mile event. This year he opted on the 50-mile race - the Tour de Lacs.

The Tour De Lacs is a race of full nature and forms a loop from Vielle-Aure.

Competitors reach the village of Artigues via the passes of Portet (2,214m) then Bastanet (2,509m) . This particularly mineral route includes a series of lakes which gives the race its name - the three Bastan lakes, the Hourquette lake, the Gréziolles lake and the Laquets reservoir. In some years, the route branches off directly towards La Mongie after the Laquets reservoir, crossing the mountain pastures of Serpolet 4.

They then go up via the Col de Sencours and make a round trip to the Pic du Midi de Bigorre - the highest point of the route at 2,876m.

From there, entrants descend towards Tournaboup following the same path as the longer races to meet the runners of the Ultra Tour 160 and the Tour des Cirques, with a common final between the runners of these routes.

On the days leading up to the race the weather had been great and runners had been relaxing and taking in the atmosphere in glorious sunshine.

However, by the morning of the race the weather was that bad all events were rerouted to the bad-weather routes with the highest point - Pic du Midi - being removed from all races.

But Sunter is very experienced and was prepared for all conditions.

On Wednesday, mother and son - Michele Sunter and Jordan Sunter - took part in the final Harrock Hill Race of the series.

Starting in May each year, a series of four races are held each month over the summer with competitors in contention for the winners’ box of veg.

Having finished all of the 2023 races, Michele completed the series in great style, finishing second V60 in 56:43 - more than two minutes quicker than the previous month.

Jordan Sunter also had a great race, finishing in a very respectable 45:40.