RUNNERS rallied yesterday to save the annual Croxdale ten-mile road race - with both winners making a special plea to the event organisers not to erase the ten-miler from the North-East athletics calendar.

Durham City Harriers, the organising club, had hoped for 150 entries but there was a shortfall of nearly 50 and only 84 competitors crossed the finish line on Tudhoe Village Green.

But victors Terry Wall and Sheila Allen, who both decided to enter only because the race was in jeopardy, appealed to the organising committee to retain the four-lap fixture.

"It would be a great shame if the race was lost to North-East athletics," said Wall, a runaway winner of the men's race.

The Durham City baker added: "I usually work on a Sunday but I'm on holiday and when I heard the race was under threat I decided to make a special effort to run.

"I think you need to keep these races going because once they go it's very hard to get them back - I try to support as many as possible."

The 32-year-old Morpeth Harrier, who had won the Aycliffe 10K the previous Sunday, scored another comfortable victory, clocking 52 mins 52 secs to beat Sunderland veteran Tom Doughty by a minute and a half.

Allen's success was even more emphatic, finishing an excellent tenth overall in 62.15 - just outside her own course record - to beat Birtley's Kelly Bentley by over seven minutes.

Allen, who won the race two years ago when it incorporated the British Veterans' Championships, said: "I had intended running a multi-terrain half marathon in Leeds but when I heard the race was in trouble I decided to enter.

"I'm not a fan of running four laps because I prefer point-to-point races. But I enjoy running at Croxdale and I would be sorry to see it go. I hope the race organisers have a re-think and keep it going."

Max Colby, a member of the race committee, said: "We have trebled the entry for the ten-mile race, which is encouraging, and the future of the event will be discussed at our next meeting. We might give it another year to see if the number of entries continue to rise."

* Teenage pole-vaulter Mark Christie, who is attempting to get the 5.10m qualifying mark for this summer's European Junior Championships, no-heighted for his second successive major competition in the North of England Championships at Manchester.

The 18-year-old Wearsider, who also failed to clear the bar when he made his Great Britain under-20 debut at this month's Loughborough International, climbed to the top of the UK Under-20 rankings three days later when he cleared a personal-best 4.96m in a low-key North-East Athletics League meeting at Jarrow.

* Northumberland's Kevin Flannery established himself as the region's top under-17 400m hurdler when he won in a time of 55.9 secs at the Inter Counties Schools Championships at Jarrow, beating Durham's North-East champion Daniel Pope (57.0 secs). Washington schoolboy Craig Crawford-Glanville continued to dominate the intermediate boys 400m, winning in a personal-best time of 49.5 secs.

The overall county placings were: 1 Durham 540 pts; 2 Northumberland 483; 3 Cumbria 481; 4 Cleveland 388.

Results:

CROXDALE TEN MILE ROAD RACE

Men: 1 T Wall (Morpeth) 52 mins 52 secs; 2 T Doughty (Sunderland M40) 54.23; 3 R Hand (Durham City M40) 58.35; 4 E Makin (Dur C) 59.28; 5 M Ingram (Crook M45) 60.49; 6 D Armstrong (Elswick) 61.00; 7 P Morgan (South Shields M45) 61.48; 8 B McMillan (Claremont) 61.55; 9 P Addyman (Clare) 62.11; 10 L Christopher (Sund M55) 62.46. Team: Durham City 26 pts.

North-East Vets Championships

M45 J Davidson (Tynedale) 76.28; M50 S Winter (Chester-le-Street) 63.19; M55 L Christopher; M65 J Prudham (South Shields) 74.33; M70 W McNeill (Dur C) 79.27.

Women: 1 S Allen (Houghton & Peterlee W45) 62.15; 2 K Bentley (Birtley W35) 70.43; 3 Y Swinhoe (Elswick W45); 4 J Heatherington (Unatt) 75.09; 5 L Woods (New Marske W50) 76.32.

W35 K Bentley; W45 S Allen; W50 L Woods; W60 E Armstrong (Tynedale) 82.07.