KEVIN Ogden had almost three minutes to spare in winning the LIVERSEDGE HALF MARATHON.

He and his Spenborough AC clubmates made up half of the top-eight places of the 485 finishers on Sunday.

On a tough course, Ogden's chip-timed 75min 31sec was just 38 seconds off his best ever, set in 2011 on the flat Brass Monkey course in York.

Team-mate Martin Hall was fourth and the fastest over-50 in 79:33. That represents his quickest for seven years. Tom Dart was sixth in 82:01 and Neil Barker eighth in 82:23.

The ladies' top four was closer, with Donna Edmondson (Idle AC) prevailing in 87:39.

Sally Malir of Ilkley was first over-50 and fourth in 88:28. Andrea Dennison (Bingley) made a welcome return to the road in 12th, having not raced since November.

The penultimate WEST YORKSHIRE WINTER LEAGUE race took place at Temple Newsam the previous Sunday. The decider is hosted by Baildon Runners on March 1.

Stainland Lions have wrapped up the men's, women's and overall titles but Pudsey Pacers have a chance to finish second in all categories, although they will have to overtake Stadium Runners in the men's league.

Both Stadium Runners, from Huddersfield, and Queensbury Running Club have made huge strides this season at the expense of traditionally-strong outfits such as Baildon, Dewsbury and Leeds-Bradford Tri-Club.

Jo Horan and Anna Smith have scored consistently to improve Queensbury's ladies' totals.

Chris Williams, Darren Midgley, Martin Firth, Ben Clare and Pete Hughes have been joined by new recruit Andy Dovernor and second-claimer Tom Collinge to make a strong men's team that has finished third in the last two races.

Queensbury seem assured of fourth position ahead of Baildon, who have been overly reliant on Quentin Lewis (second male overall behind Ben Mounsey) and Jenni Guard, who can also finish second overall behind Pudsey rival Michelle Tenwick if she completes the final race.

Skipton AC have also improved this season, led by Melanie Ives and Julian Hood. They now lie sixth in the ten-team table.