The Blues Brothers ran in Oxenhope Straw Race last Sunday – and took along their own band.

Musicians played classic songs as the two ‘soul brothers’ carried a 20kg bale of hay through the village streets.

And once the duo finished the race they returned with the band to the Lamb Inn to continue playing throughout the afternoon.

The Blues Brothers were among 500 runners and walkers taking part in the popular annual event to raise money for local charities.

There were Smurfs, superheroes and scarecrows, all carrying hay bales for two and a half miles from pub to pub in and around the Worth Valley village.

Organisers estimate the runners will have raised more than last year’s £9,000-plus sponsorship total.

Judith Maples, one of the organisers, was at the finishing line at the Dog and Gun pub.

She said: “It has been absolutely brilliant. They have been dressed as anything and everything; the Blues Brothers, cave men, strange orange traffic cones!

“It has been a great atmosphere and it has been quite humbling to see the amount of effort that everybody has put in. It is great to see them all coming through the finish laughing, smiling and out of breath!”

The straw race has raised £300,000 since its launch.

The overall winners of this year’s race were also the top male athletes, Will Smith and Ian Holmes, who completed the run in 15 minutes.

Other results: female athletes, Diane Macdonald and Deborah Cox, 27 mins; mixed athletes, Salena McEwan and Russell Fairhurst, 24 mins; male fun, Tom Buck and Pete Sharp; male veterans, Keith Binns and Mick Berry; female fun, Vicky Sykes and Jenny Harman; female veterans, Tracy Bancroft and Jennifer McDowell; mixed fun, Claire Cooper and Craig Cooper and Eddie Burke and Holly Burke; mixed veterans, Neil Brown and Sarah Brown; local heroes, Ian Page and John Egan.

Fancy dress winners: male, Adam Balderstone and Ross Balderstone, Jedward; female, Rebecca Dibb and Katie Rudd, Fantastic Foxes; mixed, Kerry Lowes and Ian Scott, Daleks; combined, Martin Dixon and Brad Watson, Gareth Gregory and Kev Kershaw, Simon Dixon and Craig Dixon, Phil Gledhill and Tim Hartingdon, road cones; outstanding effort, Stephen McManus and Andrei Celik, Craig Bartlett and Chris Reynard, Alexander Celik and Stuart Berry, Wayne Stevens and Mark Luby, wizards sleeves.