THEY may struggle to beat him around the highways and byways of Oxfordshire, but this group of Mota-vation runners had the last laugh on Steve Naylor at the third round of the series at Combe.

Naylor, who supports Sheffield Wednesday, who are known as The Owls, is well-known in the county for running in his favourite team’s shorts.

While Naylor was a convincing winner, six of his rivals sported Sheffield United shorts – Wednesday’s deadly derby rivals.

The new shorts could not inspire his rivals to a Naylor-esque performance.

One of the athletes, Julian Richardson said: “The six of us ordered the shorts especially for the occasion.

“All six of us came in the top 20, but none of us, including Steve Male, could give him a close race, even with the new shorts!

“The best bit was that we all changed at the last minute and then stood around him at the start line.

“He took a while to twig, but he found it very amusing when he realised that we all had them on.

“He just had time to compose himself for the start...and that’s the last we saw of him for a while.”