Leeds City regained the men's title and retained the women's crown at the North of England relays in Sunderland, with Keighley & Craven's Joe Hudson posting the fastest stage of the day.

NORTH OF ENGLAND "JOE GALVIN" MEN'S 6 & WOMEN'S 4 STAGE & YA RELAYS, Silksworth, Sunderland, September 20

The event opted for shorter stages than the norm this year, with the senior men's and women's legs reduced from about 6km to 5km and a similar reduction for the Young Athletes relays.

Men

Leeds City regained the men's title from Salford Harriers — though the destination might have been different had Ewan Wheelwright lined up for Salford's A-team rather than the B. His 14:57 on the opening 5km stage was quicker than all but two of the A-team's six runners and 40 seconds faster than the runner who did take the A-team's opening leg.

Leeds got off to a good start with Joe Firth's 15:00, before veteran John Beattie ran 14:37 on the second stage to give them the lead. They kept it to the end, with Olympian Phil Sesemann running 14:16 on the fourth leg.

Salford's Harry Wakefield matched that time, some seconds back, but the title had by then already changed hands. The pair were joint second quickest on the day.

Keighley & Craven finished only ninth but had Joe Hudson better both with a 14:09 clocking mid-race to post the fastest stage time.

Joe Sagar and Gavyn Chalmers then finished things off for Leeds, who also just pipped Salford in the B-team contest.

Morpeth, third, were out of the title race but had Chris Coulson fourth fastest with a 14:26 effort.

Men (6x5km): 1 Leeds 89:57 (J Firth 15:00, J Beattie 14:37, T Antcliff 15:37, P Sesemann 14:16, J Sagar 14:53, G Chalmers 15:21); 2 Salford 91:09 (I Battye 15:37, J Birmingham 15:06, J Wood-Doyle 14:59, H Wakefield 14:16, B Lawrence 14:44, S Hopkins 15:33); 3 Morpeth 91:37 (S Hancox 15:23, L McCourt 14:42, L Bartle 15:52, R Balmbra 16:08, C Coulson 14:26, W Hetherington 15:15); 4 Blackburn 91:46 (M Fraser 15:29, J Monk 14:43, B Whyte 15:40, M Ramsden 14:27, R Harrison 15:25, B Fish 15:59); 5 Leeds B 93:08 (S Atkinson 15:51, M Rendell 15:24, H Butler 15:25, J Hall 15:15, M Abshir 15:47, G Rush 15:22); 6 Salford B 93:20 (E Wheelwright 14:57, E Nation 15:35, J Dutton 15:40, T Hodgson 15:57, G Beardmore 15:35, M Mannings 15:34); 7 Middlesbrough Mandale 93:24; 8 York 95:21; 9 Keighley & Craven 95:40; 10 Keswick 95:59

77 teams finished

Fastest: J Hudson (K&C) 14:09; P Sesemann (Leeds)/H Wakefield (Salf) 14:16; C Coulson (Morp) 14:26; J Beattie (Leeds) 14:37; A McMillan (York) 14:39; J Wilson (Mandale) 14:42; J Monk (B'burn) 14:43; B Lawrence (Salf) 14:44; E Wheelwright (Salf B) 14:57

Women

Leeds women made it a senior double as they retained their title, finishing well over a minute clear of second-placed Border Harriers, but the pair were three minutes clear of a younger and much less experienced Lincoln Wellington quartet.

Eleanor Curran's 16:34 split for the opening 5km double lap put Leeds ahead of Katrina Ballantyne, a clubmate running for their B squad. Border followed, with veteran Kate Maltby on duty, and the order at the front, apart from Leeds B dropping back, remained the same to the end.

Heather Townsend, Jemima Pearson and Sarah Potter then finished the job for Leeds as their lead increased with each stage.

Women (4x5km): 1 Leeds 68:14 (E Curran 16:34, H Townsend 17:09, J Pearson 17:16, S Potter 17:15); 2 Border 69:41 (K Maltby 16:54, A Leadbetter 17:15, O Mason 17:49, R Brown 17:42); 3 Lincoln Wellington 72:57 (I Porter 18:18, M Grant 18:58, E Whitworth 17:50, F Taylor 17:50); 4 Trafford 73:26 (N Reid 17:53, A Stiles 18:29, L Robinson 18:36, S Hudak 18:25); 5 Salford 74:04 (E Russell 17:58, I Hall 18:24, S Mason 18:32, O Hardman 19:08); 6 St Theresa's 74:29 (S Kemshall 18:23, E Warren 18:38, E Ballantyne 19:45, J Grant 17:40); 7 Rotherham 75:40; 8 Sale 75:55; 9 Chorlton 75:58; 10 York 76:22

49 teams finished

Fastest: E Curran (Leeds) 16:34; K Ballantyne (Leeds B) 16:51; K Maltby (Border) 16:54; A Leadbetter (Border)/S Potter (Leeds) 17:15; J Pearson (Leeds) 17:16; J Grant (St Ther) 17:40; R Brown (Border) 17:42; A Wright (Sale) 17:47; F Taylor (Linc W)/E Whitworth (Linc W) 17:50

YOUNG ATHLETES

The under-18 men's race saw Southport Waterloo overcome an early lead set by Peter Wayman for Border Harriers, who still led after two stages before Caleb Still polished things off with a 15:56 clocking. Second-placed Border and third-placed Warriors had no last-stage answer as Still swept by.

Gosforth came out on top of a close under-16 boys' race, although the leading three teams all had to concede to Rotherham's Edward Rose on the opening 2.5km leg before coming through. In the same race there were unusually fast laps on the final stage, where Thomas Hastings was quickest overall with 12:35 for fourth-placed Wakefield, but as is the norm there were fast times on the opener, led by Noah Phillips and Osniel Segal.

The under-14 boys' race saw Isaac Taylor-Unitt give Salford a first-leg lead with the fastest time of the race, and his club held on to win, albeit by only 14sec from Gosforth. Jarrow & Hebburn's Jacob Hopper chased him home on the opener with the morning's second-best effort.

The under-18 women's race was also a close-run thing as Preston Harriers had to pull back a sizeable lead established by Rotherham's Maya Schofield and Haley Bacon before winning by 13sec. They had last-leg runner Pollyanna Kershaw to thank for their gold medals, and her 18:11 narrowly bettered the Rotherham pair's earlier efforts.

Derby's Olivia Lee, the Inter-Counties Cross Country bronze medallist, had dominated the opening stage with a runaway 17:16 clocking, the under-18 fastest lap time.

Gosforth also won the under-14 girls' race, their second young athletes' title of the day, leading throughout after Ada Penfold's front-running 13:57. Lincoln Wellington were left in a forlorn chase, although Darcy Windle's 15:16 last lap did narrow the winning margin to just 17sec.

U18 Men (3x2.5km): 1 Southport Waterloo 48:19 (W Delamare 16:04, E Clark 16:19, C Still 15:56); 2 Border 48:30 (P Wayman 15:38, L Davison 16:20, L Fulton 16:31); 3 Warriors 49:49 (M Phelan 16:17, M Grabe 16:47, E Rowe 16:45); 4 Darlington 50:10; 5 Leeds 50:14; 6 Gosforth 50:17

Fastest: P Hayton-Rowall (Gosf)/P Wayman (Border) 15:38; A Tullius (Traff) 15:49; S Johnson (Roth) 15:52

U16 Boys (3x2.5km): 1 Gosforth 39:50 (M Gaylor 13:04, N Penfold 13:25, E Watson 13:21); 2 Wirral 40:05 (F Reece 13:08, N Mills 13:34, L Sawyer 13:21); 3 Leeds 40:15 (C Emmett 13:07, C Porteous 13:31, T Griffith 13:36); 4 Wakefield 40:17; 5 Darlington 40:54; 6 Warriors 41:00

Fastest: T Hastings (Wake) 12:35; N Phillips (Sale) 12:39; D Segal (Der) 12:42; E Rose (Roth) 12:52; O Curran (Darl) 13:54

U14 Boys (3x2.5km): 1 Salford 43:15 (I Taylor-Unitt 13:42, N Hartley 14:51, J Lombard); 2 Gosforth 43:29 (M Gheorgiu 14:15, J Michalowitz 14:30, A Coulson 14:43); 3 Leeds 43:30 (H Lowe 14:30, N Griffiths 14:16, Z Lumsden 14:43); 4 Bingley 44:11; 5 Wirral 44:38; 6 Derby 44:44

Fastest: I Taylor-Unitt 13:42; J Hopper (J&H) 13:50; M Aston (Bing) 13:54; F Jackson (Wirral) 14:10

U18 Women (3x2.5km): 1 Preston 55:44 (I Goodman 19:05, K Leitch 18:27, P Kershaw 18:11); 2 Rotherham 55:57 (M Schofield 18:24, H Bacon 18:16, M Holmes 19:16); 3 Sale 57:13 (B Soper 19:00, R Heywood-Young 19:15, M Boyer 18:57); 4 Warriors 57:18; 5 Derby 57:44; 6 Rossendale 59:08

Fastest: O Lee (Der) 17:16; P Kershaw (Preston) 18:11; H Bacon (Roth) 18:16; O Murphy (Birt) 18:18

U16 Girls (3x2.5km): 1 Warriors 43:19 (I Beddow 14:41, D McVicar 14:16, R Kohring 14:21); 2 Lincoln Wellington 44:08 (M Potter 14:45, A Ronnie 15:02, H Norris 14:21); 3 Hallamshire 44:41 (C Bailey 14:45, M Buckley 15:08, J Thake 14:47); 4 Halifax 45:07; 5 Bingley 45:14; 6 Darlington 47:12

Fastest: D McVicar (Warr) 14:16; R Kohring (Warr)/H Norris (Linc W) 14:21; J Thake (Hallam) 14:37

U14 Girls (3x2.5km): 1 Gosforth 47:57 (A Penfold 13:57, R Collins 16:51, E Seward 17:08); 2 Lincoln Wellington 48:14 (P Johnson 16:22, H Ward 16:34, D Windle 15:16); 3 Bingley 48:22 (E Bowles 15:07, O Pedley 16:59, A Ashcroft 16:16); 4 Wirral 48:29; 5 Warriors 48:34; 6 Liverpool 49:37

Fastest: A Penfold (Gosf) 13:57; G Brambles (B'burn) 14:57; E Bowles (Bing) 15:07; D Windle (Linc W) 15:16