Thousands enjoy coast sunshine while it lasts

The beach at Scarborough's North Bay was packed as day-trippers, holidaymakers and the resort's residents soaked up the sun as temperatures yesterday hit highs of 25C.

The arrival of the summer weather gave a welcome boost to traders in the seaside town, who hope that the chaos caused to worldwide air travel by Iceland's volcanic ash cloud will tempt holidaymakers to stay in Britain.

One seafront trader in Scarborough said: "People do not want to go abroad because they simply cannot guarantee that they will actually be able to get on a flight, and if they do, they don't know whether they will be able to travel back home at the end of their holidays. We're hoping this will mean more people decide to go on holiday in Britain – in many ways, every ash cloud has a silver lining."

The soaring temperatures also enticed record-breaking crowds to York Racecourse over the weekend. The course is believed to have set a modern-day attendance record – with 29,775 punters flocking to Knavesmire on Saturday for its May Spring race meeting, which was first staged in 2008.

Britain sizzled in temperatures higher than some Mediterranean hotspots over the weekend. Afternoon temperatures in Manchester reached 26.7C and a late high of 27.7C on Saturday, at one point edging ahead of Majorca on 26.5C and well above the May average of 16C.

However, the sunny conditions in Britain are not expected to last into this week and over the bank holiday weekend. Forecasters said that temperatures will dip in the North of England today, with chilly weather and showers developing across much of the UK tomorrow.

A marathon runner collapsed and died yesterday during the Edinburgh Marathon.

The 52-year-old runner fell during the first leg of the Team Relay event, police said. He was treated at the scene and taken to the city's Royal Infirmary, but was later confirmed to have died. Temperatures in Edinburgh reached 25C.

Mini-heatwave: Page 5.