THE extended spell of sunny, dry weather has made for perfect running conditions both on and off road.

The Presteigne Pacers' Half Marathon was won by Mark Hall from Barnsley in a good time of 1.12.22, the fastest lady being Nicola Goodwin (Worcester) in 1.34.33.

Among excellent performances by Ludlow runners was Barry Wilson's 1.22.36, which gave him 7th place overall and the prize for the fastest male veteran over 50.

David George was 24th (1.34.38) and his wife Sonia 45th (1.45.04), recorded her personal best time for the distance. Richard Hornsby (1.50.18) was 54th, Nick Busby (1.53.25) 61st and Tony Hewson (1.56.09) 64th. Tony was winner of the male supervet 60+ prize.

An altogether longer and stiffer challenge was last week's Radnor Ramble from Knighton School.

The rather hard-won 25 miles off-road course was not far off a full marathon distance and the route incorporated some challenging climbs. Ludlow's Russell Mapp beat over 200 other walkers and runners to the line in a splendid time of 4 hours 6 minutes.

Dennis Rowlands covered the course in 5.15 and Jane Mapp and Graham Wood ran it together in 5.45.