Forty five intrepid runners took on the challenge of the 27km Black Mountains Fell Run on Sunday.

The arduous north to south circular loop race, which both starts and finishes in Llanbedr, includes 5,200ft of ascent and required good navigational skills.

Sam Mayglothing of Western Tempo was first home in two hours 55 minutes and 26 seconds, beating James Blore of Chepstow Harriers by just 36 seconds.

Tim Lenton was the fastest over-50 man in third, just under five minutes ahead of first local runner Brett Mahoney of Mynyydd Du (3.05.39).

Fifth and the fastest over-40 was Tom Bush of Pennine Fell Runners in 3.06.52, with Ceri Merwood of Cardiff Runners the fastest woman in sixth in 3.11.57.

Mynyydd Du’s Tom Turner was ninth crossing in 3.14.02, with club mates Ian Whistance second over-50 in 11th overall in 3.18.20 and Ben Gibbinson 12th in 3.20.45.

Second quickest woman just behind in 13th was Katie Ironside of Beacons host club Mynyddwyr De Cymru in 3.21.53, with Brecon AC's Naomi Law third and fastest female over-50 in 3.56.15 - just pipping Kani Hinshelwood of Parc Bryn Bach by 40 seconds.

Mynyydd Du’s Hilary Keogh was the fifth woman home and the fastest over-60 female in 4.12.54.

Other Mynyydd Du times were John Keat in 3.46.14, Paul Colley-Davies in 4.27.57, Paul Tucker in 4.58.42 and Beverley Tucker in 5.19.44.

Crickhowell AC's Gareth Johns crossed in 4.13.44, while MDC finishers included Bellin James 4.50.30, Mo Hashish 5.19.41, Flora Davies 5.19.50 and Patrick Dahl in 5.19.53.

The course record from 1993 still stands, with Keith Anderson crossing in a time of 2:16:01.

Next up for local fell runners is the Fan Fawr run, which is to be held on Saturday, October 5. It is a relatively short sprint by comparison to last weekend’s challenge, covering a distance of 3.2km with some 900ft of ascent.