Stuart shone in the Turkish mountains, while Yaxley and Werrington Joggers impressed in opening Frostbite League race

Stuart Haw took on the 50km race which saw over 1,000 athletes climb close to 4,000m. Haw made his return to elite ultra racing after many years away from the sport due to illness and injury. He managed to get into the lead pack early into the race, using the road section of the course to get into a good position before tackling the climbs. After losing places during the technical parts of the course, later in the race, he finished in a respectable 13th place, beating several professional athletes including the reigning Ultra Trail European Majors Champion.

For Haw, this race evidences an ability to compete at the highest level of trail running, a result that bodes well for upcoming races including the Great Eastern Run.

"I felt good as we climbed the steep section of the course so I kept pushing and trying to keep up with the runners ahead,” Haw said. “I was expecting the more experienced mountain runners to overtake me, but only a few did later in the course.

"The course was tough, but I prepared well mixing high mileage, with altitude, heat, and mountain training over the summer. This mix of training helped me as we had to race at a high altitude whilst also tackling technical parts of the course. There were sections of the race which were like cross country running, sections where we could only power-hike, and other downhill sections where we reached speeds of over 20kmh!"

Further down the pack Fatima Painda continued her impressive Ultra Trail endeavours by finishing in the mix in 387th. A solid run given that only a month ago she completed the grueling 174km Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc.

Khadija Painda finished 178th in the 20k race which itself had 1,500m of climbing.

FROSTBITE LEAGUE

Yaxley Runners and Werrington Joggers were the top local teams in the Frostbite League curtain raiser at St. Neots.

Yaxley finished 4th, with Danny Snipe their first man home in 8th place. James Bennett, Alex Devine and George Dove ran well finishing 32nd, 33rd and 35th respectively.

Ros Loutit was the leading Yaxley lady, finishing in 14th place. Zoe Roan in 18th and Claire Piercey who placed 23rd completed the ladies scoring team.

Werrington boasted three men in the top 30, with James Burton 25th, Paul Halford 27th & Jonathan Parrish 29th.

Peterborough & Nene Valley AC’s Steve Wilkinson finished 9th with John Pike 21st.

Thorney Runners were amongst the top teams in the ladies race. Chloe Bedford in 11th and 13th place Kelly Maddy were well supported by Grace Randall who finished 29th.

PANVAC were runners up in the junior race with Olivia Peach finishing as 3rd girl. Beatrice Faith placed 10th.

Monty Wood-Davis in 10th and 11th placed Finlay Overand also ran well for the club.

Xander Gunn of Yaxley was the first local boy across the line finishing 4th.

CARDIFF HALF MARATHON

A group of Yaxley Runners travelled to Wales for Sunday's Cardiff Half Marathon. Darren Hillier was the first Yaxley man home in 1.16.34, followed by Darren Wells who clocked 1.22.29. Kayleigh Longfoot crossed the line in 1.24.26 with Carl Baron clocking 1.25.46. Sam Pettit with 1.27.04 and Mino Migliorini with a time of 1:29.22 also went under 90 minutes.

Michael Branston with 1.31.37, Joe Bennett with 1.34.52 and Abbie Branston who clocked 1.39.15 were also in action.