A DEE Valley athlete has enjoyed an early Christmas cracker!

Last weekend was marked by the Abbey Cwm Hir Christmas Cracker and only one member from the Llangollen-based Run Free Fell Running Club turned out for this challenging race.

Howard Jones achieved an impressive seventh position overall with his time of four hours and 43 minutes.

This saw him win the over-60 category, while he finished third in the over-50 section.

The race should have been a marathon, but due to recent flooding, it was cut short for safety reasons.

Instead providing a 35k race, it still held a decent 1,065m of ascent.

Being a navigation event it makes it a more interesting event, as it's not always the fastest runners who wins.

A total of 57 runners set off on a frosty morning, with perfect running conditions throughout, while some areas were boggy making it fun and challenging.