In pictures: Marathoners face tough climbs and wintry weather as trail running event returns to the Long Mynd
Runners were put through their paces around the Shropshire Hills and the Long Mynd on Saturday as part of a trail running event.
The Icing on the Cake marathon, half-marathon and 10K took place among spectacular scenery, with runners starting and finishing in the Carding Mill Valley.
Organised by How Hard Can It Be events, 98 runners were signed up to the event in total, with 30 of them taking part in the full marathon.
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Marathon winner, Julian Ayres, ran the 26-mile two-lap circuit in an incredible 3 hours and 47 minutes.
Organiser, Denzil Martin, said the annual event - now in its 15th year - is named after the snow-topped hills that greeted them the first time they came to scout out the course.
How Hard Can It Be organises dozens of events annually including the summer-time version of the same course ran on Saturday, dubbed 'A Piece of Cake', which is held in July.
"We're now in our 18th year," explained Denzil, "we run around 30 events each year varying from 5Ks all the way up to ultra marathons.
"Mostly in Shropshire but a couple in Wales and other places. They're small events usually - friendly, easy-going and relaxed."
Denzil himself is an avid marathon runner, having recently run 12 marathons in 12 months to raise more than £10,000 for the Samaritans.
On Saturday, our photographer Steve Leath joined the dozens of runners in Cardingmill Valley to capture some of the action.
Here are some of our favourite photographs from the morning:
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