NATIONAL women's cross country champions Chester-le-Street added the Northern four-stage road relay title to their growing collection with an emphatic victory at Warrington.

Former Darlington Harrier Ruth Brown got the Cestrians off to a steady start, handing over in fifth place to Kathryn Waugh, who was still suffering from the after-effects of a virus which forced her to miss the BUPA Great North Run the previous Sunday.

Waugh dropped one place - but former North-East cross country champion Morag McDonnell put her team on the road to victory by overhauling leader Amanda Hewitt, of Wirral, turning a 49 seconds deficit into an eight seconds lead over Liverpool's Jenny Clague with a rapid 11 mins 25 clocking for the twisting two mile circuit.

And Great Britain international Dianne Heneghan confirmed her position as the North-East's leading road racer by extending Chester-le-Street's winning margin over the Merseysiders to 62 seconds by completing the anchor-leg in 11 mins 19 secs, the third fastest circuit of the competition.

Chester-le-Street, who under the direction of coach Lindsay Dunn became the first women's team to claim a national title when they won the English cross country crown at Parliament Hill Fields in April, now have their sights set on a second national title when they travel to Birmingham next month for the four-stage road relay championships.

Darlington Harriers were the region's next finishers at Birchwood Park in seventh place, with fourth-leg runner Susie Rutherford producing a storming finish to lift her team from tenth position.

Elswick were 11th, again thanks to a fast anchor-leg run by Judith Nutt, who was second North-East woman home in the Great North Run.

The region's men's teams failed to make any impact at Warrington.

Morpeth Harriers, runners-up last year, were without several of their top runners including brother Mark and Ian Hudspith, and had to be satisfied with sixth place, over three minutes behind Salford, who retained their title.

Morpeth's top performer was Terry Wall, who lifted his team from eighth to fourth place on the penultimate leg, only to see the Northumbrians drop two positions on the final circuit.

Senior Men (6x4m approx): 1 Salford 2 hrs 4 mins 18 secs; 2 Trafford 2:05:26; 3 Altrincham 2:06;06; 6 Morpeth (D Swinburne 20.59, M Morris 21.06, D Samuels 21.06, C Sampson 21.27, T Wall 20.43, B Harrison 22.21) 2:07:57; 21 Elswick 2:13:48; 27 North Shields Poly 2:16:49; 35 Loftus 2:19:35; 36 Chester-le-Street 2:19:45; 45 Durham City 2:21:07.

Women (4x2m approx): 1 Chester-le-Street (R Brown 11.47, K Waugh 12.20, M McDonnell 11.25, D Heneghan 11.19) 46 mins 51 secs; 2 Liverpool 47.53; 3 Leeds City 48.06; 7 Darlington 49.22; 11 Elswick 50.14; 15 Morpeth 505.50; 24 Loftus 13.10. Fastest times: 1 B Jenkins (Salford) 10.59; 2 H Lawrence (Wirral) 11.00; 3 D Heneghan (ClS) 11.19.