GATESHEAD Harrier Charlotte Wickham was denied a unique hat-trick of victories in the Junior Great North Run by a rival who returned to Tyneside four years after treating the race as a fun run.

The 16-year-old Whitburn schoolgirl feared the worst when she saw the name of Chloe Wilkinson on the entry sheets after the Barnet runner had beaten her in the English Schools Championships 3000m in July.

Wilkinson took the silver medal at Exeter, just ahead of her North-East rival, and she finished 13 seconds clear in the three-mile race at Gateshead where she lined up with a record 4,500 competitors.

Wilkinson said: "I ran here four years ago as a fun runner and I always wanted to come back.

"I've only been running seriously for two and a half years and it's marvellous to win such a big event. The atmosphere is just fantastic.

"I knew Charlotte was the one to beat and when I got away from here early in the race I just kept going as hard as I could."

Wickham admitted: "It's a terrible disappointment not to win it for a third year in a row.

"But Chloe is a very good runner and I knew it would be hard to beat her. When she got away I did my best to catch her but she kept her lead.

"I did feel there was a bit of pressure, but I dearly wanted to complete a hat-trick of wins."

Gateshead Harriers provided the winner of the boys' race, with Chris Parr timing his finish to perfection to beat North-East cross country champion Chris Lamb and Ryan McLeod, son of Olympic Games 10,000m silver-medallist Mike McLeod.

It was the 16-year-old St Joseph's School, Hebburn, student's fourth attempt and he was delighted to win after taking the bronze medal position last year, when he was recovering from injury.

But Parr has had an excellent summer, winning the English Schools 3,000m silver medal and completing a superb winning double in the 800m and 1500m in the European Catholic Schools Championships in Hungary.

He said: "I was confident going into the race, but I knew there was a lot of pressure on me because people expected me to do well on my home patch.

"But unlike last year I didn't have any injury problems and everything went perfectly.

"I made my effort with about 600 metres left and the others started to drop off as we approached the finish in the stadium."

Parr kicked away as he turned into the track, beating Lamb by ten metres, with McLeod a similar distance further behind.

Lamb, who runs for Chester-le-Street, admitted: "It's the hardest race I've ever had and Chris was just too strong for me at the end."

McLeod, who had gone into the race after a fine win at Berwick the previous Sunday, said: "I made the mistake of going into the lead into the wind on the way back to the stadium. It took too much out of me and I paid the penalty."