The St Albans Stampede looks set to become a fixture on the ultra-running calendar after the second edition was hailed a success.
The event, hosted by St Albans Striders, is a 12-hour race over an undulating four-mile lap in Heartwood Forest.
Runners ran either solo or in teams of up to eight with the aim to run as many laps as they could.
In total 186 entrants took part, many more than in 2015.
It began in bright sunshine and ended in rain and high winds with the host club taking some of the top awards.
Last year’s victorious four-man team of Steve Buckle, Garry Warren, Nick Pattison and Peter Crowdell won again, increasing their combined mileage from 112 to 116.
Gareth Beavis, Mike Martin, Seb Rowe and Jim King took second team place with 108 miles at the first attempt.
In the solo event, Striders’ Andrew Mckillop was the first man with 64 miles, surpassed by Harpenden Arrows’ Laura Hicks, who added an extra lap to win the event outright.
Other Striders put in personal bests in the race to take top 10 positions within their categories, including fourth placed pair of Kate Tettmar and Richard Underwood and soloists Clair Drage, Alison Campbell and Wai Meng Au Yeong.
Special mention to Richard Olney, whose partner Stephen Elkan dropped out injured.
Richard battled on alone to take third place pair - alas his final lap did not count, as it ended a few seconds after the 12 hour time limit but nonetheless he took home a hard-fought trophy.
Carol Ransom and Michael Brady put in a fantastic performance to take the first place in the Pairs category.
Race directors Amy Heap and Ben Scott said: “We would like to thank and congratulate all the runners for their efforts as well as all the St Albans Striders marshals and volunteers, some of whom were on the course in the elements for more than 15 hours during the day but were noted for their enthusiasm and vocal support for the runners.”
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