DAVE Turnbull took on his first ultra on Saturday, July 28, at the age of 68.

Described as the greatest ultra-running and walking event in Europe or even in the world, the Lakeland 50 ultra tour of the Lake District covers almost double the distance of a marathon.

Not only having to cover the distance but also navigate around the course adds to the demands on a gruelling event which is reported to have a high drop-out rate.

Starting on Saturday morning at the northern point of Ullswater, the challenging off-road route took Dave away from the normal beaten tracks around the beautiful and picturesque lakes and along the banks of Hawswater and amongst others through Ambleside and Langdale.

After a final climb, which in total for the route was around 3100m of ascent, he finally dropped into Coniston for the finish.

The event has a cut off at 24 hours which Dave managed with ease completing it in 17:03.54.

Ride London-Surrey STARTING at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London early on a rather chilly morning for July, Graham Lane set about completing the Prudential Ride London-Surrey 100 challenge. It aims to be the largest charity cycling event with over 30,000 cyclist taking part on closed roads which travel along many of the routes used for the Olympic road race and time-trial including the biggest climb at Leith Hill and the world-famous Box Hill.

After taking in the scenic route and some rather fast-paced tourism through the city streets, Graham headed towards Buckingham Palace along the Mall and crossed the finish line in a time of 6:29.29.

Kerry Taylor took on her first ever Sportiv that day, completing the shorter distance of 46 miles in 2:35.16.

Hooky Six IN ITS 32nd year and with record numbers of entrants and finishers this year the Bourton Road Runners had their work cut out during the annual Hooky Six road race.

Held in the beautiful Village of Hook Norton the undulating two lap course, covering six miles, proved to be a deceptively fast course.

Darren Long was the first BRR to cross the finish line in 38:54 not too far behind was Ian Shoemark in 40:05.

Andy Peaston and Jared Robinson completed the route in 43:33 and 45:14 respectively. Niamh Shoemark was the first Bourton lady home in 41:56 and in doing so was first WV45, seventh lady overall.

Susan Hunt and Gill Garrick came in 46:53 and 52:21 which was a personal best for the Gill on this route, and Lynn Hudson ran a 1:06:09.