Witney Roadrunner Nikki Slater was crowned Oxfordshire half-mara- thon champion after putting in an extraordinary performance to finish second at the 24th White Horse Half Marathon in Grove.

Out of 491 finishers at Sunday's race the second round of the 2006 Oxfordshire GP Series Slater was only beaten by Headington's Steve Kimber.

It makes her the highest-placed woman in the race's history.

Slater won the ladies' race at a canter, smashing the women's course record in the process.

Her time of 1hr 17mins 28secs was a massive 2.34.00 inside the previous best a feat all the more remarkable given the blustery condit- ions.

Slater's display capped another terrific day for Witney Roadrunners in the Oxfordshire Grand Prix series, which saw both the men's and women's teams triumph.

She teamed up with Nicola Gomm and Sally Pitts to take the women's prize, with Pitts (1.34.25) running the second-best time ever to win county gold in the vet 45 ladies' section.

Gomm clocked 1.29.39 to win the vet 35 open race and county championship.

White Horse Harrier Lucia Singer was second behind Gomm in the county, with Abingdon's Heather Smith third.

The open men's race was won easily by Kimber.

Running for his first-claim club Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow, Oxford Mail Cross Country League champion Kimber crossed the line in 1.13.43.

He finished almost four minutes ahead of his nearest rival to add the Oxfordshire half marathon title to his ever-lengthening list of honours.

Laz Boden (Witney Roadrunners) was first in the vet 40 category in 1.19.48, with teammate Tony Lock coming second in 1.21.51.

Witney's superb day was complete as Mike Baillie, Boden, Tony Lock and Anthony Giles retained the open and county men's team titles, with Baillie winning county bronze in the senior men's category.

Phillip Coy (Banbury) won the vet 50 county title, with Abingdon's Robin Schofield second and Witney's Ken Chard third.

RESULTS CHECK WHITE HORSE HALF MARATHON (Top 50)

1 S Kimber (WSEH) 1.13.43, 2 N Slater (1st SL) 1.17.28, 3 A Hawkins (Tewkesbury) 1.17.29, 4 T Duffin (Stubbington Green) 1.17.35, 5 L Orth (Thame) 1.17.40, 6 M Giles (Stourbridge) 1.17.59, 7 P Fernandez (Abingdon) 1.19.05, 8 M Baillie (Witney RR) 1.19.18, 9 L Boden (Witney RR, 1st V40) 1.19.49, 10 P Egerton (Abingdon) 1.19.59, 11 R Beaumont (Woodstock H) 1.20.51, 12 J Littlechild (Hogweed Trotters) 1.20.54, 13 D Charleston (Handy Cross) 1.21.10, 14 T Lock (Witney RR, 2nd V40) 1.21.51, 15 S Shilston (WHH, 3rd V40) 1.22.24, 16 I Newell (Marlborough) 1.22.15, 17 J Percival (Oxford City) 1.22.24, 18 M Fray (Compton, V40) 1.22.50, 19 S Pritchard (Banbury H) 1.22.58, 20 T Dixon (Oxford C, V40) 1.23.18, 21 N Ball (Cheltenham H) 1.23.23, 22 P Newman (Bath City, V40) 1.23.29, 23 J Harvey (Abingdon) 1.23.33, 24 P Coles (Marlborough) 1.23.38, 25 K Adams (Woodstock H) 1.24.25, 26 R Skilbeck (Headington RR) 1.24.26, 27 S Astin (Swindon Str) 1.24.40, 28 M Sas (Swindon Harriers) 1.224.41, 29 G Mort (OUP, V40) 1.24.42, 30 R Pattison (unattached) 1.24.44, 31 S Winter (unattached, 2nd SL) 1.24.49, 32 A Giles (Witney RR) 1.24.51, 33 G Fisher (unattached, V40) 1.25.15, 34 I Sall (unattached) 1.25.39, 35 J Ashworth (Woodstock H) 1.26.08, 36 D Kayum (Croydon Str, 1st V50) 1.26.10, 37 G Collis (Swindon Str) 1.26.35, 38 G Bird (Headington RR, V40) 1.26.40, 39 D Brookes (unattached) 1.26.45, 40 S Johnson (Headington RR) 1.26.57, 41 P Coy (Banbury H, 2nd V50) 1.27.02, 42 M Stanton (unattached, SL) 1.27.03, 43 R Schofield (Abingdon Amb, 3rd V50) 1.27.15, 44 G Clench (Alchester, V40) 1.27.25, 45 M Baker (Northbrook, V40) 1.27.38, 46 K Chard (Witney RR, V50) 1.27.51, 47 R Bowker (unattached) 1.27.52, 48 A Every (gearsandtears.com) 1.28.08, 49 C Noble (Cherwell, V40) 1.28.09, 50 B Baker (Reading RR, V40) 1.28.10.

OTHER CLUB RESULTS

Abingdon Amblers: T Greenland (V50) 1.28.55, S Convers-Reignier 1.31.29, P Groves (V40) 1.32.50, J Wigmore (V50) 1.35.06, A Church (V40) 1.37.43, J-L Coudret (V40) 1.39.21, J Oliver (V50) 1.39.48, N Rowe (V40) 1.39.57, R Kent (LV45) 1.41.30, H Smith (LV35) 1.43.42, P Wilson (LV45) 1.45.00, D Roberts (V40) 1.45.20, J Bones 1.46.23, I Bowen-Morris (V40) 1.51.39, D Berger (V40) 1.53.19, H Rutter (LV35) 1.58.00, K Adams (SL) 1.58.01, F Calnan (V50) 2.02.12, N Blatchford (LV55) 2.11.56, D King (V60) 2.19.34.

Alchester: 56 A Hucker 1.28.44, 71 G Warland 1.30.39, 76 R Gould 1.30.56pb, 104 A Hine 1.33.21, 111 A Beaumont 1.33.45, 135 A Parker 1.36.29, 147 L Dover 1.38.05, 163 N Trinder 1.39.15, 166 B Millard 1.39.34pb, 170 S Howard 1.40.00, 173 S Paradine 1.40.09, 175 R Elliott 1.40.17pb, 192 T Digweed 1.42.49pb, 239 N Cherry 1.46.18, 248 T Christie 1.46.43, 254 W Hunter 1.46.59, 288 N Lambert 1.49.41, 325 P James 1.53.25, 376 H Virdi 1.57.03pb, 412 C Edge 2.02.17, 460 L Stratford 2.14.13.

Headington RR: 55 C Prince 1.28.33, 58 M Worthington (V50) 1.29.07, 107 S Howard (SL) 1.33.29pb, 149 L Oliver (LV35) 1.38.12, 186 K Pitt (SL) 1.42.09, 187 R Newhouse 1.42.24, 217 T Legg 1.44.38, 221 M-A Fischer (LV45) 1.44.55, 240 M Herworth (LV35) 1.46.19, 262 Z Eperjesi (SL) 1.47.31, 269 R Shaw (SL) 1.48.37, 290 J Zaremba (LV35) 1.50.04, 297 E Croft (SL) 1.50.21, 328 G Norris (V50) 1.53.38, 342 B Stayner (SL) 1.54.34, 360 S Cowls (V40) 1.56.04, 393 P Brame 1.59.04, 435 L Newton (LV55) 2.07.44cr, 436 B de Martino (LV55) 2.08.12, 464 S Doel (LV55) 2.14.56.

Witney RR: 54 P Ainslie 1.28.25, 61 C Whitehead 1.29.26, 64 N Gomm 1.29.39, 70 G LeGood 1.30.30, 88 T Redhead 1.32.06, 117 S Pitts 1.34.25, 128 P Burborough 1.35.59, 162 J Dadd 1.39.11, 259 S Hagget 1.47.12pb, 336 D Barnby 1.53.56, 366 D Slater 1.56.28, 372 M El Sharkowy 1.56.46, 394 S Kent 1.59.25, 397 I Fowler 1.59.29.

CHEDWORTH 10-MILE ROMAN TRAIL

Kidlington: J Warnock (V50) 1.23.30, W Bunce (V50) 1.25.09.