MORE than 100 long distance runners had to be rescued after wintry weather closed in on them leaving some competitors suffering from hypothermia.

The return of the bitterly cold snap resulted in a number of events being cancelled or postponed as freezing temperatures wreaked havoc across the region with several road closures in place.

On Saturday night, members of the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team managed to locate and rescue 100 runners who were taking part in the Hardmoors 55 race from Helmsley to Guisborough – including more than 30 suffering from hypothermia.

A spokesman for the CMRT said: “As the wintry weather closed in during the evening and a number of cases of hypothermia were developing the event was halted at Kildale.

“The rescue team were alerted at 8pm when Yorkshire Ambulance Service requested our help with 30-plus hypothermia cases to deal with at Kildale.

“We set up our control in Great Ayton and deployed some team members to Kildale to liaise with the event organisers. They reported 100 or so competitors at Kildale needing evacuation.

“Our two Land Rover ambulances were set to remote points on the route to help with competitors who were still running and a couple of team members in their personal 4x4 vehicles were then sent to Kildale to start moving some of the stranded runners.

“The distance was around five miles but took around 20 minutes due to appalling wintery conditions, at times the visibility was zero in the swirling snow and the covered road hard to make out.”

Carl Faulkner, CMRT team leader, praised the competitors for being fully prepared for the conditions before taking on the challenge.

He said: "The events last night show how important it is to be prepared when you head out into the hills or on the Moors – because each Hardmoors competitor was well equipped, with appropriate winter clothing and knew how to read a map and use a compass, they were able to keep moving until they reached a place of safety."

The freezing conditions meant that a number of events were unable to go ahead including the Boat Race of the North, dubbed the northern equivalent of the world-famous race between Oxford and Cambridge University students.

Conditions on the roads were difficult in rural and exposed areas with the snow gates on the A66 being closed at Brough and Hamsterley Forest was closed to visitors due to heavy snow blocking access.

Other events to fall victim to the weather included the Thirsk 10km race.