TWO girls' cross-country teams from Allertonshire School in Northallerton have qualified to represent the North-East in the English schools' national finals tomorrow.

The year nine and year seven/eight teams earned their place in the finals, which take place at Acklam Grange School in Middlesbrough, with gritty performances in the regional finals at Bydales School, New Marske last month.

Taking on a challenging course and older opposition, the year nine girls were bidding to become the first intermediate team from Allertonshire School ever to qualify for the national finals.

They achieved their aim by finishing second, with excellent performances from Jennifer Crewsdon (ninth), Jo Adams (12th), Katie Roberts (17th) and Lucy Collier (19th) ably supported by Stacey Lambert and Lizzie Mills.

The year seven/eight girls also qualified to face the top 24 schools in the country after finishing third.

Rosie Adams and Becky Sadler ran shoulder to shoulder throughout, pushing each other to the limit, but Rosie just had the edge to become North-East champion, with her team-mate the runner-up.

They were supported by an outstanding run from Abbie Thompson in 16th and Zoe Carlton in 36th, with Sarah Adamson, Becky Carson and Katie Thompson the other team members.

The school's year seven/eight boys' team also represented North Yorkshire in the regional finals and performed well against strong opposition to finish sixth.

Douglas Roberts ran an excellent race despite illness to finish second, with good support from Adam Pearson (13th), Aaron Wallis, Shaun Lambert, Aaron Ramsbottom and Paul Kilsby.