GEORDIE exile David Anderson marked a fleeting return to his native Tyneside by inflicting a rare defeat on North-East cross country champion Andy Caine in the Elswick Harriers' Norman Woodcock Memorial Road Race.

But the 25-year-old London-based solicitor, who now runs for Belgrave Harriers, was full of apologies after out-sprinting his rival.

"Andrew did all the work into the wind and I feel a bit guilty about waiting for a sprint finish," said Anderson, who won the North of England and North East 1500m track championships two years ago before moving south to take up a government job.

"I knew I had the stronger finish and just waited for my chance," he added.

Anderson, who was a member of Elswick Harriers before moving away, said: "I'm up visiting a few friends and I decided to run because it was my old club's race.

"I was second here when I was 18 and it's nice to come back and win."

Caine took the opportunity to return the North-East senior men's trophy he won at Consett last year and instead of defending his title will run in the Reebok Cross Challenge on the Edinburgh course, which will be used to host next year's European Cross Country Championships.

The 25-year-old Tynedale Harrier has his sights on a place in next year's Great Britain World Cross Country Championships team, while he feels running on Saturday in front of the Scottish selectors will do his international prospects no harm.

Elswick Harrier Ryan McLeod, 17-year-old son of former Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Mike McLeod, finished an excellent third to spearhead the host club to team victory.

The women's race was won by double World Veterans Championships gold medallist Sheila Allen, who made up for the disappointment of finishing third over-45 in last month's big Veterans' International in Ireland.

Allen beat Chester-le-Street over-35 vet Christine Bowman by nearly three minutes to win the race for a second time after finishing runner-up last year.

Results - Men (6m): 1 D Anderson (Belgrave) 28.33; 2 A Caine (Tynedale) 28.44; 3 R McLeod (Elswick) 30.50; 4 V Wilson (Morpeth) 31.08; 5 A Lilliendale (Sunderland) 31.10; 6 C O'Connell (Sale) 31.15; 7 M Tomlinson (Chester-le-Street) 31.17; 8 S Horn (Elswick) 31.29; 9 P Johnson (Morpeth M40) 31.38; 10 S Murdoch (Border M40). M45 A Dent (Blaydon) 32.59; M50 C Dentice (Morp) 33.55; M55 M Henderson (Blay) 39.47; M60 R Wilson (Sund) 37.56.

Teams: 1 Elswick 34; 2 Tynedale 46; 3 Blaydon 48.

Women (6m): 1 S Allen (Houghton and Peterlee W45) 35.46; 2 C Bowman (ClS W35) 38.24; 3 D Elliott (H&P W35) 39.17; 4 N Gray (Aurora) 39.42; 5 Y Swinhoe (Elswick W45) 39.53. W40 S Milburn (Newton Aycliffe) 40.55. Teams: 1 Alnwick 30; 2 Heaton 50.