Ferryhill Wheelers rider James Anderson consolidated his lead in the League International (TLI) North East Cyclo-Cross League when he raced to a near minute's lead in the penultimate round, staged by Derwentside CC on the Old Kelloe Farm course near Trimdon.

But the Premier Division title will go down to the wire, with just seven points separating Anderson, Andy Oliver (Halfords Bikehut) and Neil Withington (My Way Trust) going into the final round on the Hetton Lyons course on January 30.

That was the finishing order on the Old Kelloe course, where Anderson followed Oliver for two of the seven laps before pulling away and opening up a maximum lead of 75 seconds.

Oliver was clawing some of that time back towards the finish, but they were still separated by 52 seconds at the end of 11 miles' racing.

Meanwhile, Withington was dangling in no man's land, well over a minute behind Oliver but 70 seconds ahead of fourth placed Steve Potter (Cleveland Wheelers).

Adrian Timmis, the former Tour de France rider who eight days earlier had won the national over-40s' cyclo-cross title in his first season as a veteran, left his younger rivals trailing to score an individual win in the national inter-area team championships at the Eastway circuit in East London.

The Pinarello RT rider, who was representing the West Midlands, finished 24 seconds ahead at the end of 15 miles' racing, but it was the rider he beat into second individual place, Nottingham's Dan Alexander, who led the East Midlands to their first team title since 1998.

Alexander and his team-mates Ben Eey (seventh), Jim Bryan (eighth) and puncture victim Paul Cox (20th) scraped the gold medals by a single point from the host area, London.