IT was just 13 months ago that Woodstock Harrier Steve Naylor made his competitive debut – but already he is dominating the county scene.

The 31-year-old has finished no worse than second in any race since winning on his debut at the Eynsham 10K in November 2009 and leads the Oxford Mail Cross Country League this season with two wins out of two.

It’s been a rapid rise for the former Henry Box School, Witney student, who had no running pedigree before joining Woodstock Harriers in September 2009.

Having made a massive impact on Oxfordshire’s road and cross country scene, Naylor is now looking to challenge himself at a higher level.

“The test will come in January and February,” said Naylor.

“I have entered the Alsager 5 up in Crewe, the South of England Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill and the English Championships at Alton Towers.

“Someone said you are going to get beaten, but you will have a lot of fun doing it.

“It will give me an indication of how I can get on against the best people.

“Some people call me ‘speedy Steve’. It may be that this year is a one-off, but I’m hoping it is not.

“If I come top 20 in a national event, that will be a massive tick in the box.”

In his first year of running, Naylor has slashed his 10K personal best to 31mins 25secs and run 24.44 for five miles, which ranks him inside the UK’s top 40.

But how did he get to this level?

He said: “When I was young, I would run to the shops if I had to, but I was never really a runner.”

Naylor played plenty of football for locals teams such FC Mills and Witney Royals, plus mountain-biking, inspired his late father Terry.

He added: “I have always been fit and played a lot of football at university.

“I would often play twice a day and then head off to lectures.”

Despite doing just two weeks’s training, Naylor ran the 2003 Great North Run for Cancer Research and clocked a decent 1hr 21mins.

“After that, they all said you need to do some more running,” said Naylor. “But I didn’t have the drive at the time.”

Naylor works in the accounts department at Blenheim Palace.

He only resumed running training in 2009, doing four-mile laps round the grounds twice a week.

His first session with Woodstock came that September.

“I think at first they thought I was a bit of a Jack the Lad, running off into the distance.

“But with each session, I enjoyed it more and more.”

Naylor entered the Eynsham 10K two months later, which he surprised himself by winning.

Since then, the wins have come thick and fast and Naylor has only been beaten by a former Olympian – Aylesbury Vale’s Anuradha Cooray and a national standard runner – Mathew Ashton.

Naylor said: “I always do it because I enjoy it. I run fast because I like running fast.

“My lungs just seem to cope and my legs seem to deal with it.”

Naylor will run just his third cross country race this Sunday (January 2) in round three of the Oxford Mail League at Horspath, which doubles up as the Oxfordshire Championships.

He said: “I read a few books and saw that cross country is a good way to keep your fitness up in winter, so I bought some spikes and gave it a go.

“After Ascott-under-Wychwood, I thought I have won my first cross country race. My legs were a bit wobbly after that.

“I would say out of my victories, that was the nicest one.

He added: “At Culham, in the second round, someone described me as a fairy in the mud because of the style I have got.”

Naylor says he is used to running at a quick pace, so finds it harder to slow down for longer runs.

“I did a 15-mile run in Oxford and my legs weren’t used to it,” he admitted. “If I go out on my own, I will go too fast.”

How far Naylor can go remains to be seen, but he is committed to the Woodstock club and certainly has no grand designs.

“Some people say Olympics, but that’s rubbish because I am 31 and that will never happen,” he said.

“I would like to get under 30 minutes for 10K, but it is about how I go about it.

“I don’t want to be bullied into doing too many miles and that sort of thing.”