THE Eildons proved to be the star attractions at this year's Jedburgh Running Festival.

Over 1200 athletes from all over the the country took part in the event's three running races as well as the championship wheelchair and hand-cycle 10ks.

A record 689 names went down for the half marathon with a new high of 487 entries in for the 10k.

But it was the gruelling 38-miles Three peaks Ultra which grabbed much of the attention, attracting 121 of Britain's top endurance runners.

Only six failed to finish the Three Peaks route which took in Maxton, St Boswells, the three Eildon peaks, Bowden and Newtown St Boswells.

Craig Cunningham (5.34.23) from Portobello took the top honour with Richie Cunningham (5.39.08) from Carnegie in second, after taking a mile detour near the end, and Truro's Duncan Oakes (5.45.13) finished in third.

Craig said: "I was surprised when I was told I'd won as I knew Richie was in front of me. It's a shame he took the wrong turn but that's the way ultras are sometimes.

"It was really tough with the amount of mud but I still enjoyed the course."

Innerleithen's Isobel Knox (6.46.57) took the women's race from Garscube's Sharon Law (7.04.12) in second, with Caroline McKay (7.16.19) from Edinburgh in third.

Isobel, who is the Scottish 100 kilometre champion, told us: "That's the hardest race I've ever run. Going over the Eildons with tired legs is hard and you've still got almost 18 miles to go."

The Border Telegraph's newly appointed Editor Ally McGilvray crossed the finishing line in 9.01.06 - despite suffering a fall after only mile nine.

The tenth running of the half-marathon saw the four-year-old course record smashed by Ethiopian Yared Hagos.

The former ice hockey star, who recently won the Invernesss half marathon, crossed the finishing line in 1.06.29. Edinburgh University's Patryk Gierjotowicz was second in 1.10.43 and Moray Anderson from Corstorphine claimed third in 1.12.04.

Yared said: "The wind and rain made it difficult but I am happy with the time and to have the new course record."

Nicola Duncan from Portobello won the women's half marathon title in 1.21.14. Jillian Gordon from Kinross claimed second in 1.25.36 with Morag McCracken of Hunters Bog Trotters finishing in third with a time of 1.27.35.

Michael Crawley from Corstorphine broke the 10k tape in a terrific time of 31.12 minutes with Guy Bracken second in 33.33 and Perth's Greg Simpson third in 34.22.

Gala Harrier Kirstin Maxwell won the women's 10k with a time of 39.32 minutes. Lindsey Fraser from Edinburgh won the sprint for second from Caroline Wallace with both ladies registering the same time of 42.30.

Simon Lawson won the 10k Scottish Wheelchair Championships with a record time of 22.57 minutes. Paralympian Jade Jones was runner-up in 25.12 and Stuart Bloor claimed third in 26.33.

And Alistair Corps Bell smashed the 10k hand-cycle record with a winning time of 16.56 minutes from Mike Thomas and Sean Love.