CHESTER-LE-STREET underlined their great strength in depth by winning the North of England women’s four-stage road relay championship for a fifth year in succession at Manchester.

The Cestrians lost the services of three established veterans to Morpeth Harriers this summer and were also without Scottish internationals Freya Murray – on Commonwealth Games duty – and Maxine Czarnecka at Wythenshawe Park. But their squad was still too good for their rivals, coming in almost two-and-a-half minutes ahead of Liverpool.

Melissa Turner handed over in third place but Tracy Laws took the lead, which was maintained by teammates Claire Simpson and Great Britain international Alyson Dixon, first North- East finisher in the Great North Run.

North-East cross country champion and winner of this year’s Darlington and Tees Pride 10Ks, Rosie Smith, shot Durham City into the lead on the first leg with the third fastest time of the day, but the team dropped away to finish 20th.

Morpeth Harriers, without Great Britain internationals Ian Hudspith and Nick Swinburn, were the first North- East team in the men’s six-stage championship, finishing sixth, three minutes behind winners Derby, with Sunderland fading to eighth after North-East cross country champion Patrick Martin handed over the lead on the first leg with the third fastest time of the relay. Darlington 10K winner Dan Garbutt was fourth on the opening circuit but his team, Durham City, dropped back to finish 33rd.

In the Northern Young Athletes Relays, Birtley finished just outside the medals in fourth in the under-15 girls after recent Junior Great North Run winner Lydia Turner lifted the team from 13th to fourth on the anchor leg, one second behind the relay’s fastest runner, Scarborough’s Bronwen Owen.

Results - Senior Men’s Six-Stage: 1 Derby 1 hour 42 mins 35 secs; 2 Altrincham 1:42:50; 3 Liverpool 1:43:50; 6 Morpeth (N Shrubb (8) 17.04, M Nicholson (7) 17.16, R Floyd (9) 18.14, M Dawson (9) 17.44, I Harding (9) 18.17, B Harrison (8) 17.00) 1:45:35; 8 Sunderland (P Martin (1) 16.33, J Martin (2) 16.59, B Rushworth (3) 17.42, M Hood (6) 17.40, M Foggin (6) 18.41, S Duffy (8) 18.45) 1:46:20; 10 Gateshead 1:46:54; 33 Durham City 1:54:24; 34 Gateshead 1:54:30. Fastest times: 1 J Miller (Liverpool) 16 mins 22 secs; 2 R Weir (Derby) 16.28; 3= A Ford (Sale) & P Martin (Sund) 16.33.

Women’s Four Stage: 1 Chester-le- Street (M Turner (3) 17.18, T Laws (1) 17.44, C Simpson (1) 17.50, A Dixon (1) 17.09) 1:10:01; 2 Liverpool 1:12:30; 3 Salford 1:13:50; 5 Morpeth 1:14:29; 20 Durham City 1:18:57; 23 Gateshead 1:19:11. Fastest times: 1 L Howard (Leigh) 16.31; 2 S Patridge (Leeds City) 16.47; 3 R Smith (Durham City) 17.05; 4 A Dixon (ClS) 17.09; 6 M Turner (ClS) 17.18.