IT WAS a proud day for Ambleside's Sarah McCormack on Saturday when she was declared official champion at the Mountain Running World Cup.

The last race, which was held in Tacen near the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, was the prestigious 10km Smarna Gora race, which saw the runners take on narrow and technical forest trails with more than 700m of climb and 350m of descent.

McCormack, who ran for Ireland, came in second place with an impressive time of 50 minutes.

Other runners from the South Lakes also took part in the final race of the WMRA World Cup including Helm Hill's Hannah Russell.

Nearer home, a new record of runners took to compete in the Langdale Horseshoe fell race at the weekend.

Around 400 competitors attempted the gruelling 20km course, which started near the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.

And, Langdale Ambleside Mountain rescue was also called in on the eventful day on Saturday after a fell runner fell off the bad step at Crinkle Crags.

Some runners abandoned their race to attend to the fallen casualty and alerted the race marshals who quickly set up a survival shelter while the rescue team were on their way.

The casualty was quickly airlifted to Carlisle in a coastguard helicopter with a suspected displaced fracture in her arm and the top of her tibia.

More than 370 runners did manage to complete the tough race which saw the route over Thunacar Knott, Esk Hause Shelter, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags and Pike O'Blisco.

Finlay Wild was the clear winner with a time of two hours and 51 seconds, five minutes off the 1977 record.

Ambleside's Garry Greenhow (02-09-33) came in second followed by British Fell Running champion Carl Bell (02-10-10), and first MV40 was Helm Hill's Rob Jebb in seventh place (02-15-35).

Legendary fell runner Ian Holmes (02-21-41) was first MV50 and in 17th place overall.

British champ Kelli Roberts, of Helm Hill, was first female in two hours, 32 minutes and 22 seconds.

Team partner Sharon Taylor (02-46-33) was second female and first FV40, and Todmorden's Annie Roberts (02-49-08) came in third.

There was also a record entry in the notoriously difficult and challenging Lakes In A Day race, which covers 50 miles of the Lake District.

Firefighter Ricky Lightfoot took home the glory by finishing in eight hours,47 minutes and 7 seconds, nearly 45 minutes ahead of the second runner, MV40 Damian Hall (09-35-25), with Alistair Graves (09-35-18) in third.

A course known for its spectacular views saw runners race from Caldbeck to High Pike, Blencathra, Threlkeld, Helvellyn, Grisedale Tarn, Ambleside, Wray, High Dam, Newby Bridge to finish at Cartmel.

With more than 4,000m of climbing it was certainly not a day to be forgotten by many of the runners.

In the women's category, Kathryn Campbell (11-52-42) took the winning title followed by Georgina Hinton-Lewis (12-30-06) in second place and Victoria Morris (13-07-02) in third.

The oldest competitor of the day was Andy Cole, aged 71, who completed the course in 18 hours, 31 minutes and 20 seconds.