FORMER Great Britain international Stewy Bell comfortably beat the tramcar - and avoided the chaos behind him - in the inaugural Beamish Tram Challenge 10K yesterday.

Bell was over a minute clear of the 12-miles-an-hour tram at the end of the 2.5K circuit and correctly turned off to the left midway through the third lap.

But he was so far ahead of the five runners giving chase that they failed to follow him up the hill, falling victim to faulty marshalling, and at the end of an unnecessary full third lap were sent back towards the turning point.

By this time, however, the five, including three from Durham University in line for the team prize, were well behind the rest of the field and decided to call it a day and jog to the finish at Beamish Hall.

"It was ridiculous - we must have run 8K by the time we were told we had missed the turn," said Sunderland Harrier Mark Donkin, who was confident he would have finished as runner-up if he'd gone the right way.

"The marshal didn't direct us properly and as a result we ran an extra small lap.

"If we'd gone back and finished the course we would have ended up running about 13K.

"It's very disappointing to have gone the wrong way - the marshal should have been looking out for us."

Bell, who had once gone the wrong way during a race in Nottingham, asked about the turn before the race started and knew exactly where to go.

But he admitted: "If I hadn't looked at the map and checked where to turn I might also have gone the wrong way - the marshal did nothing to direct me and I had to ask him if it was the turn," said the 37-year-old Chester-le-Street AC runner.

Bell wasn't surprised to beat the tram, which took too long to build up speed after the start.

"We were told we would have to do six minute miles to beat the tram and I knew we would be running a lot faster than that - the first mile in a 10K is usually faster than five minutes."

Bell finished a huge eight minutes ahead of the next man to finish, unattached runner Craig Home, and four of the next five home were non-club members.

The women's winner, Chester-le-Street's Dawn Elliott went the right way but was embarrassed by her slow time of 46 mins 25 secs - her first competitive run for ten months after injury.

The race organisers, who had limited the entry to 200 in a bid to avoid mishaps in the inaugural event, are now likely to leave the entire course marshalling to Derwentside Athletic Club next year after using their own staff within the museum grounds.

Men: 1 S Bell (Chester-le-Street) 34.28; 2 C Home (Unattached) 42.18; 3 G Jemison (Unatt) 42.25; 4 M Murray (Unatt) 42.54; 5 J Stobbart (Unatt) 42.59; 6 A Stirk (Durham University) 43.00; 7 J Morrow (Unatt) 43.23; 8 R Wilson (Sunderland M60) 43.56; 9 N Kulinich (Aurora) 43.59; 10 M Coxon (Unatt) 44.00. Team: Aurora 80.

Women: 1 D Elliott (Chester-le-Street W35) 46.25; 2 J Cross (Unatt W35) 48.13; 3 J Clayton (Unatt) 48.23.