BLAYDON Harrier Lianne Tucker, who broke two records winning four gold medals in last year's North-East Track and Field Championships, was in record-breaking form at the region's first indoor championships to be held at the £12m facility adjacent to Gateshead International Stadium.

The teenager broke her own under-20 shot putt record by 25cms when she threw 11.72m then set a new senior mark of 12m, improving Julie Lavender's 1993 record of 11.50m.

Eight of the nine new records were set in female events, with Shildon's Melissa Carr clearing 5.18m to add 18cms to the record set by Emma Morris in 2003.

Under-17 pole-vaulter Sally Scott (Gateshead) cleared 3m, 40 cms more than the junior and senior women's records, while in the same age group Birtley's Stephanie Hopkinson set a shot putt mark of 10.49m, an improvement of 13cms. Another under-17, Lauren Dewdney (Gateshead) clocked 8.95 secs for the 60m hurdles, clipping 0.005 sec off Gemma Fergusson's 2000 record.

The under-13 girls' long jump record of 4.30m was improved to 4.53m by Jessica Read (Gateshead).

The only male record to fall was in the under-15 boys' triple jump, where Gateshead Harrier Earl Gill cleared 11.02m, an improvement of 18 cms.

* Great Britain international Stephen Hepples retained his North-East championship with a comfortable victory in Sunday's 24th Redcar Half Marathon.

Only Midlands raider Julian Moorhouse looked as though he might pose any problems for the Redcar-based athlete, but a stitch after four miles put paid to the Birchfield Harrier's hopes of an upset and all he could do was follow his 26-year-old rival home, finishing 19 seconds adrift.

Hepples' time of 69 mins 53 seconds was one of his slowest for the 13.1-mile distance - his best time is 64 mins 35 secs - but he was happy to turn his back on six months of Achilles injury problems.

"I've had a terrible six months," admitted the Newham and Essex Beagle, who now runs second-claim for his original club, Loftus AC. "I want to try and get back to where I was before my injury."

Hepples represented Great Britain in Italy, German and Wales against some of Europe's top runners before taking the 3000m bronze medal in the AAA Indoor Championships.

He expected a hard race when he saw the in-form Moorhouse on the start line.

They quickly parted company with the rest of the 1,400-strong field, but what promised to be an intriguing duel took a surprise turn after four miles. Hepples said: "Julian started to hold his side and I presume he got a stitch. I just maintained a steady pace after that - I just did what I had to do."

Elswick's Judith Nutt took the North-East women's title, beating Sunderland Harrier Louise Noble by two minutes in 80 mins 18 secs.

* Durham-based Dominic Bannister put himself into the reckoning for a trip to Japan for the World Cross Country Championships next month by winning the Inter Counties Championships senior men's race at Nottingham.

The 37-year-old Shaftsbury Barnet Harrier had to thank Teesside coach Steve Shaw for coming to his rescue after leaving his race number and race chip in the changing room. Bannister, who works as a physiotherapist at a Sunderland hospital, beat Avon and Somerset's Ben Noad by five seconds to take his first major title since winning the National eight years ago, having finished runner-up in the Inter-Counties race three times.

Shaw had suffered the agony of seeing his under-17 men's contender Ricky Stevenson collapse to his knees exhausted while leading 100m from the finish line.

While the region's men's team, without last year's runner-up Andy Caine and North-East champion David Wardle, had to be satisfied with the bronze medals, the North-East women's team - down to the bare bones through injury and withdrawals - won the senior women's team title by 29 points from Yorkshire. The winning placings were Sonia Thomas (5th), Alyson Dixon (12th), Rosie Smith (17th). Donna James (45th). Aiveen Fox (46th) and Jayne Mooney (81st).

The junior men's team took the silver medals and the North-East had another individual gold medallist when Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman won the under-15 girls' race, with Shildon's Kate Avery third.