COMEBACK man Stewy Bell made it three road race victories in the space of eight days as he broke the course record yesterday winning the North-East Ten Mile Championship at Croxdale.

The 34-year-old former Great Britain international, now fully recovered after suffering a serious back injury in the 2000 Flora London Marathon, left his rivals trailing on the hilly, wind-swept four-lap course, beating Commonwealth Games Welsh marathon runner Ieuan Ellis by an emphatic three minutes.

Bell decided to give himself a rigours test by running three races in a week - the Newton Aycliffe 10K, the Tynedale 10K and the Croxdale ten miler - and came through with flying colours.

Now the Chester-le-Street AC star is itching to step up his training programme from 70 miles a week and look in the long term towards running another marathon and slash his previous best time of 2 hours 29 minutes.

"I want to run another marathon - I can't stop at 2:29," said Bell.

"Once I get my back sorted out I will think of stepping up to a half marathon and then think about doing a full marathon again.

"But I have got to take it gradually and make sure my back problem doesn't return.

"Until I'm sure it is completely clear I won't go above 70 miles a week in training."

Bell admitted that he felt "a little tired" after his hectic three-race schedule, but it did not prevent him slicing 45 seconds off the course record as he ran alone, maintaining a steady 5.20 miling pace, which proved too quick for everyone else.

The women's race - and North-East Championship - was won by Elswick Harrier Judith Nutt, who, like Bell, had triumphed in her previous ten mile race at Blyth Valley at the end of April.

Former Sunderland Harrier, Malcolm Price, now with Salford, won the two-lap five-mile race on his debut as an over-40 veteran, beating ex-clubmate Tim Field by one minute.

* Newly-crowned Northern Under-17 heptathlon champion Emma Morris, of South Shields, spearheaded Durham's hard-fought victory over arch-rivals Northumberland in the annual Schools Inter-Counties Championships at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow. Morris was only one centimetre off her personal best, clearing a national standard 1.71m in the long-jump, beating Cumbria's Northern Under-17 champion, Sarah Allison (1.68m).