MORPETH Harriers will be without big guns Mark and Ian Hudspith in today's North of England Cross Country Championships at Manchester.

The brothers, who demonstrated their form by recording the fastest times in anchoring their club to first and second places in last weekend's Durham Cathedral Relays, have decided to concentrate on next month's Inter Counties Cross Country Championships.

The event which incorporates the trial for the World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne the following month.

Morpeth have proved more than once their strength in depth, but they will be happy to repeat last year's Northern Championships performance when they took the silver medals, despite being without the Hudspiths.

This time they will be relying on Durham baker Terry Wall to reproduce the sparkling form which earned him second place in the Northern Championships in 1999.

Michael Morris, runner-up in last month's North-East Championships, and Ivan Hollingsworth, who had excellent runs at Durham, will be trying to hoist the National Cross Country relay champions into a medal position.

Morpeth, who last won the Northern Championship in 1998, will be fielding the team which carried off the North-East team championship - Wall, Morris, Chris Sampson, David Swinburne, Richard Kay and Paul Johnson - plus Hollinsworth and Steve Platts.

Sunderland Harriers will be at full strength when they defend their junior men's title at Heaton Park.

The Wearsiders, coached by Ken Jefferson, had a superb season last year when they won the North-East and Northern titles before finishing third in the national championships at Bristol.

Sunderland have already won this season's North-East championship and their highly successful team in Manchester will be Richard Kemp, Gavin Massingham, Norman Younger, Patrick Martin, Peter Groark and Chris Stoker.

Chester-le-Street, led by 2001 North-East champion Morag McDonnell, who recently celebrated a first Great Britain call-up, were comfortable senior women's winners at Durham last weekend and are expected to be the strongest North-East outfit in Manchester.

And Gateshead Harrier Charlotte Wickham could be the region's best hope for an individual medal in the junior women's race.

* New Marske Harrier Paul Welham has a seven-point lead on Richmond and Zetland's John Aspell after three senior men's races in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Harrier League.

Former senior men's champion Ian Cook (Hartlepool Burn Road) is unbeaten in the over-40 division.

He has a five-point advantage over Darlington's Martin Grainger, while Richmond and Zetland's Jim Robinson and Darlington's Ian Barnes head the over-50 and over-60 sections.

Another Richmond athlete, Louise Jackson, tops the senior women's table, with a two-point lead over Scarborough's Maxine Czarnecka, while Joyce Hutchinson (Loftus) and Lynn Woods (New Marske) are the leading veterans.