CLAYTON Harriers were double winners at the Calderdale Way Relay.

In the women's race the first three teams were covered by less than a minute after a 50-mile circuit which was divided into six stages.

Clayton's winning margin was a mere 16 seconds over Holmfirth with Bingley third, while the veteran men defeated the arch enemy Horwich with 13 minutes to spare.

Meanwhile the club's senior men just missed out on third overall after a steward's enquiry and Rossendale Harriers took eighth spot in a competitive and fully subscribed race in which 100 teams took part.

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary Race, Wendy Dodds was presented with an inscribed medal as one of only two athletes to run in every single event.

That set the tone for Clayton Ladies who were given a blistering start by Three Peaks Champion Bev Whitfield, partnered by the redoubtable Vanessa Peacock.

Starting at 8am in Halifax, they took ten minutes or more out of their main rivals with only Dark Peak in any touch four minutes in arrears.

If you are looking for heroines, then look no further than the second leg pair of Maureen Laney and Catherine Wilson.

Team captain Laney, still nursing a nagging foot injury, steered late replacement Wilson over Stoodley Pike and into Todmorden.

Wilson, the former Cath Ashton, has recently moved back after a spell living in the south.

Originally she wasn't even named in the B Team, but thanks to the efforts of the duo they handed on having doubled their lead to nine minutes.

The men's race winning time was the slowest in history which was indicative of the heavy conditions, and consequently this year all the women's teams failed to make the cut off times for the last two stages and were involved in the mass starts.

With the times still to be adjusted, nobody knew who had won at the finish and the majority of the Clayton team left before the presentation convinced they were third.

In fact they had led from start to finish and had achieved their victory with four over 50s on board - Peacock, Laney, Dodds and Katy Thompson.

In the veteran men's contest, Clayton trailed Horwich for the first four stages, but while Horwich loaded the early legs with their strongest athletes, canny Clayton kept a couple of aces back.

Skipper Ian Greenwood acknowledged afterwards that it was Phil Hall and John Roche on leg five who made the difference after turning a five minute deficit into a one minute lead with the fourth fastest time of the day.

From there, the two Marks - Aspinall and Brown - were unassailable as the squad gained four places in the last two stages to finish fifth overall.

Clayton A missed third place by half a minute in unfortunate circumstances after Salford were not penalised after allegedly straying from the definitive course.

Any controversy shouldn't deflect from an excellent team effort though as the squad maintained third or fourth position from gun to tape.

Paul Thompson and Martin Podmore were the third fastest on leg four, while Garry Wilkinson and Andy Black at the start and Andrew Stubbs and Jason Harbour at the close were fourth fastest on their stages.

For Salford, Lostock strongman Billy Burns, partnered by Jon Brown, were fastest by three minutes on stage four.

Dave Lewis made an all too rare appearance for Rossendale Harriers, and showed what a fine athlete he is although now in his 40s.

Partnered by Martin Lee, back from his exploits in Namibia, they gave the club third place after the first stage.

Steve Duxbury and Steve Blakelock ensured they were still fourth after leg two as eventually they finished eighth.

Todmorden A were 13th and Bowland Fell Runners 18th despite an injury to Shaun Livesey on the opening stage, while generous sponsorship from ScreenTone of Leeds ensured that all 1,200 athletes taking part received a memento of the day.