A Guisborough woman is being tipped to become the first female runner to win a cross-country event.

More than 60 dedicated runners will gather at the starting line in Osmotherley, near Northallerton tomorrow, for the Lyke Wake Race, sponsored by the Darlington and Stockton Times, the sister paper of The Northern Echo.

Among the runners will be Sharon Gayter of Guisborough, who hopes to be the first woman to win the gruelling contest in its 38-year history. Race director Paul Sherwood said: "Sharon hasn't entered for a few years but she normally does it in quite a good time. Out of the entrants we have got this year, she is the fastest starter, so she has a strong chance. But on the day, anything can happen."

The competitors will run and walk the 42-mile route of the Lyke Wake walk, which stretches across the highest point of the North York Moors to the coast of Ravenscar, near Scarborough.

The event has been held every year since 1964, apart from last year when it was cancelled due to the foot-and-mouth crisis.