ROYTON Road Runners’ Sophie Wood shrugged off her rivals and a gruelling course to win the ladies’ prize at the Oldham Half Marathon.
One of the toughest races of its kind in the UK with 1100 feet of climbing, Sophie held off the challenges of Cat Jessop and Saddleworth’s Gaynor Keane to cross the line in Oldham Town Centre in one hour, 32 minutes, 10 seconds.
Jessop finished runner-up 55 seconds adrift with Keane third in 1:34.42.
Salford Harriers Bruno Lima and Jan Pichl were one and two in the men’s race out of 262 finishers.
Lima clocked 1:17.10 with Pichl 27 seconds behind. Rob James from Royton Road Runners was third in 1:17.56 as Oldham & Royton duo, Michael Mannings (1:20.18) and Tony Muir (1:21.49) came fourth and fifth.
Former GB international Andi Jones still holds the course record with 1:09:52.
