RECORD-BREAKING Morpeth Harriers continued their domination of the Good Friday Elswick Relays when they finished first and second senior men's teams for the third year in succession.

Morpeth's four-man A team clipped 1 min 6 secs off the course record, while B team anchor-man Ian Hudspith took five seconds off the lap record.

Hudspith, 33, who recorded the fastest long-leg time when Morpeth won last weekend's Northern 12-Stage Road Relay Championship at Bradford, was again in superb form as he completed his competitive build-up before next Sunday's Flora London Marathon.

Morpeth's A team had built up a 32-second lead when his elder brother, Mark, 35, set off on the final 2.1-mile circuit. But Ian tried valiantly to reel in his brother and cut the deficit to only six seconds at the finish.

Now the Hudspith brothers will try to lead Morpeth to the three-man team prize in London when they link up with North-East cross country champion Neil Wilkinson and the newly-crowned North-East half marathon champion, Terry Wall.

The North-East's half marathon women's champion, Bernadette Taylor, of Darlington Harriers, won the 2.1-mile women's race by an emphatic 43 seconds from Morpeth under-17 Delyth James.

Taylor, winner of last month's Redcar Half Marathon, is delighted with her form.

She said: "I like shorter races and this was a really fast course. I'm enjoying my racing."