A FORMER cross country mountain bike champion has caught the running bug after a sterling performance at the annual Granite Way run.

Jodi Bennett née Vickery, 40, formally of Bude, is now retired from the racing scene with her family of two young boys in Morwenstow, keeping fit with a bit of running.

To test her fitness levels, she recently competed in the Granite Way run, which starts at Okehampton Railway Station, opting to take on the 10-mile route instead of the 20-miler this time around.

Jodi wanted to use the run to test her pace ready for a possible year ahead of a few more challenges.

She completed the run in a very respectable time of 1 hour 4 minutes and was the first female to cross the finish line and an amazing overall 5th out of 92 participants!

The excellent result gave Jodi a great boost and has inspired her to enter a few more off-road challenges, and judging by her time at the Granite Way, all other competitors are going to be looking over their shoulders from now on.