Chester-le-Street based Lindsay Dunn - voted coach of the year by the British Milers' Club - believes his club's women's team will bring back medals from today's Northern Cross Country Championships in Blackburn.

Dunn, whose star runner Nick McCormick won the BMC Athlete of the Year title after winning the AAA 1500m crown and clocking the fastest mile in Europe last year, has built a powerful women's squad but illness and injury has proved a problem since the Cestrians' ground-breaking victory in the National Cross Country Championships in 2003.

Last year at Consett a weakened Chester-le-Street team took the Northern silver medals - but they could well go one better in Lancashire.

Chester-le-Street welcome back Great Britain international Morag McDonnell, who is joined by Alison Dixon - first finisher last year in 11th place - Kathryn Waugh, Stephanie Robson, Maxine Czarnecka and new recruit Kerry Matthew, the former North Yorkshire and South Durham Harrier League champion.

Chester-le-Street will still be without Dianne Heneghan and Sarah Wilkinson, both struggling for fitness, but Dunn believes Chester-le-Street will give a good account of themselves.

"It is a good team and we could well be among the medals again," said Dunn, who faces a busy time as he prepares McCormick for his Commonwealth Games quest.

McCormick, who successfully defended his 4K crown in the Great North cross country meeting in Edinburgh two weeks ago, leaves for Australia a week on Wednesday. "He will be doing more quality training before he leaves and once he settles in he will doing track races," said Dunn.

Dunn, who has helped leading North-East athletes like Brendan Foster and Charlie Spedding in his 30 years as a coach, is delighted with the BMC award.

"It is a very great honour - I regard it as the most prestigious award a coach can win in this country," he said. "And I'm also delighted that Nick has been chosen as the Athlete of the Year."

Morpeth Harriers, whose men and women's cross country teams won the Sherman Cup and Davison Shield last weekend, will again be regarded as the region's strongest outfit at Blackburn. Last year the Northumbrians provided two women's winners, Aiveen Fox (juniors) and Delyth James (under-17), while Shildon's Kate Avery took the under-13 title.

Morpeth's men's team are without former double North-East champion Neil Wilkinson and Michael Morris, who have chosen to compete in Scotland.