The annual Donkey Drop Out challenge has been won by endurance runner Graham Merfeld for a fifth year in a row.
The event sees a diminishing number of entrants run or walk laps until just one person is competing.
Each lap is just over four miles long, starting and finishing at Syvlans, and taking in lanes and trails, including part of the Millennium Walk around the reservoir.
This year there were 100 entrants – 55 men and 45 women.
The youngest taking part was 18, while Merfeld was the oldest at 63.
Proving age is nothing but a number, Merfeld defeated each of the other 99 competitors, watching them drop out one by one, until he was the last ‘donkey’ on the course.
“The aim of the event is inclusivity rather than elitism,” said Dave Watson, who is one of the organising team on behalf of distance.gg.
“We had runners with lots of different goals, some just wanted to finish one lap, others had targets of their first half marathons, marathon, and ultra.”
Among the entrants were Island Games medalist, Amy Critchlow. The triathlete completed her first marathon and ultra marathon distances on the day.
“In the women’s race Adele Perrot came second with 15 laps (62.5 miles or 100km) so Cynthia Munemo effectively won with 16 laps,” confirmed Watson.
“She then carried on in the open event and came third overall with 21 laps.
“Adam Grogan was second (26 laps) while Graham won with 27 laps (112.5 miles).”
The 100 starters had set off on their first lap of the course at 09:00 on Saturday morning.
By the time lap six had started at 14:00, fewer than half of the entrants remained in the running to be the last donkey standing.
45 people covered a marathon distance on the day, with 16 completing 50 miles.
By 01:00 on Sunday morning, just six runners remained in the competition – with the winning female runner making it to the final three on the course at 05:00.
Dr Cynthia Munemo completed 21 laps and 87 miles, confirming her win for the third year in a row.
The last two runners – Merfeld and Adam Grogan – then battled it out over another five laps.
This was a repeat of last year’s Donkey Drop Out finale which also saw Grogan try and outlast Merfeld.
On this occasion, Grogan tapped out after 26 laps and 108 miles.
Merfeld completed another lap for the win, chalking up 27 laps and 112.5 miles, finishing in time for Sunday lunch.