It's another grey day, so let's take you away...to sunny Cyprus! 

The Leptos Cyprus International 4-Day Challenge was held on the sun-kissed Mediterranean island from Thursday, 27 November to Sunday, 30 November 2025, with 250 mainly British competitors (no FOMO or jealousy here whatsoever!).

The Leptos Cyprus International 4-Day Challenge is a staged running event, covering slightly more than a marathon, which includes road, trail and cross-country running, with four races in four days. The format, which has remained unchanged for many years, comprises a 6K time trial; an 11K mountain trail run; a multi-terrain Half Marathon, and a 10K city road run.

The Challenge is open to runners of all levels, organised by Arena Sports in Cyprus. This year, 247 people registered with 180 finishing all four races for an overall place on the leaderboard – including #16 Janet Watson (pictured above) of Carn Runners in Cornwall, who won her W70 category in 6:15:39.

The races are based in the popular tourist area of Paphos and the Akamas Peninsula National Park, poetically described in the Arena Sports website as: "covering some of Cyprus' most scenic routes, where every turn comes with a different stunning view, unfolding the beauty of the Akamas Peninsula in a panoramic sea-sky-earth motif."

The British contingent travels with Farnborough-based 2:09 Events – founded by 1983 London Marathon champion Mike Gratton, whose winning time is the company name – staying at the 5-star Coral Beach Hotel & Resort in Coral Bay, which is also Race HQ.

After four days and 48K of hard graft, the overall champion was Dean Williamson (AB REME) in a cracking 2:59:19. Dean, who runs for Colchester Harriers in the UK, won every stage and finished in style with 31:46 in the Paphos City 10K.

The women's winner was Chloe Elliott (Sale Harriers Manchester), who was 28th overall in 3:44:49. Chloe was equally dominant, with four individual victories, culminating in a 39:44 10K.

To learn more about this bucket list running challenge, visit the Arena Sports website here.

Full results are available via the runABC race listing here.

Photos by Kevin McGarry courtesy of 2:09 Events on Facebook