The 20 A4 roadside signs that were stolen just prior to the Ambleside Sports cannot have confused many people, as around 10,000 visitors thronged the well-loved event yesterday (Thursday).

Chairman of the sports Mike Blackburn said: "It's been fantastic today. It must be one of the best gates we've had."

Sports patron Lord Michael Jopling opened the games with a special tribute to the recently deceased president Michael Berry, describing him as the "great champion of tourism in the Lakes".

Mr Berry was credited with almost single-handedly reinvigorating Ambleside Sports but died earlier this year.

Show secretary Stephanie Prickett said: "He's still our president until the end of the sports. We are very sad and we miss him horribly.

"It doesn't seem the same after 25 years - you keep expecting him to walk in," she added. "He was the sports. And we'll carry on in his memory."

Lord Jopling said Ambleside Sports was a special blend of tradition and fun and there was plenty of evidence of both.

Watching the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling from the ringside was Tucker Mason who won the 11 stone event 50 years ago.

He said: "I've done it all my life. It was my family that got me involved and we did it to get some money back then.

"I've been impressed with the wrestling this year and there is a really good turnout especially in the costume contest."

The pristine white coat of starter Alan Laidlaw, from Coldstream, a former runner who has been setting off the races for five years, was another traditional sight.

As he set off the nine-mile showcase race, the Rydal Round, chair-man Mr Blackburn said the huge turnout was "like a cavalry charge".

The senior guides race was won by Pudsey and Bramley's Rob Hope followed by Ulverston's Chris Doyle, who runs for Trafford AC, and Helm Hill's Alistair Dunn.

Tom and Nikki Claphanson, originally from Washington State, in the USA, enjoyed watching the blobs of colour zigzag up the hillside through binoculars.

"It's brilliant. I love watching local fairs!" said Mr Claphanson and added similar events were held in their home state, only the mountains were higher.

Fun for the youngsters was in abundance. With children's races, a Ferris wheel, a giant clown bouncy castle, slide, trampolines and sideshows.

The Fifth Potters Bar Scout Troop, from Hertfordshire, brought 24 woggled youngsters to the sports in their five-yearly visit, and scout leader Tim Smedley said: "This is probably the greenest they've ever seen!"

For the tired sportsmen, and those exhausted just watching them, everything from Cumberland sausages to sugary doughnuts helped provide refreshment, smoke from the stalls wafted up to mingle with the haze over the fells.

The day managed to survive the rain that threatened to dampen proceedings and, as the sweet brass sounds of the South Cumbria Contemptibles Retirement Band faded, the satisfied spectators, sportsmen and stallholders drifted home.

with the Gazette's Andy Bloxham, Andrew Daniels, photos by Mark Harrison.