THE Harriers competed in the Gosforth Boro relays held in Gosforth Park coming home in fourth spot out of 31 teams. The club was led off by Mark Ketley who completed the 3.1 mile course in 17.11 to finish 20th position.

Steve Horn then pulled back 13 places to grab seventh spot in a time of 15.27. The third leg was run in 14.23 by Ryan McLeon to record the fastest time of the day, a remarkable performance by a 17-year-old and great preparation for Ryan's appearance at the World Class County Championships in Laysanne, Switzerland in three weeks.

Paul Dodd then hung on grimly to record 17.26 on the final leg.

Elswick Harriers will be staging their Good Friday Road Races this year on Friday, April 18 at a new venue The Newburn Riverside Development, Bells Close, Lemington as ever increasing traffic has made the famous old Fenham course unsafe. The club feels that the Riverside Development is an ideal environment to hold the races for years to come as it is completely traffic free and offers runners the chance to obtain some fast times on this very flat course. The event is to be sponsored for the first time by Taylor Woodrow Construction Limited who have recently completed the reclamation infrastructure and public open space at the Riverside.

An Elswick spokesman said that they were delighted that such a prestigious Company as Taylor Woodrow had agreed to support the event in its first year at the Riverside.

The format of the races will be as usual with the first event being the Under-13 Girls race at 11am and the centre piece of the day will be the 4 x 2.1 miles senior men's/vets relay at 12.15pm. There will also be events for Under-13 Boys, Under-15 Boys, and Under-17 men, Under-15 Girls, Under-17 Ladies and Senior Ladies.

l Elwick's presentation night is taking place at Blaydon Rugby Club on Friday, March 28 (7.30pm) with guest of honour Mike McLeod, Olympic swim medalist. For ticket details ring Frank Watson on (0191) 2673088.

21st Somerfield Redcar Half Marathon

Senior Men: 1 S Hepples (Loftus) 70 mins 48 secs; 2 P Lowe (Middlesbrough Mandale) 71.24; 3 R Hand (Durham City M40) 72.00; 4 D Lockett (Salford) 72.25; 5 J Hunter (Loftus M40) 72.32; 6 C Loftus (Keighley) 72.37; 7 M McDonald (Low Fell) 72.39; 8 M Thompson (Gateshead) 72.49; 9 V Brudenell (Midd Man) 73.14; 10 P Johnson (Morpeth M40) 73.20; 11 S Potts (Sunderland) 73.45; 12 B Harrison (Morp) 74.05; 13 M Armstrong (Hartlepool Burn Road) 74.10; 14 M Grainger (Darlington M40) 74.14; 15 B Roberts (Midd Man M45) 74.45. M50 C Dentice (Morp) 78.57; M 55 M Walker (Gosforth) 81.58. Teams: 1 Middlesbrough Mandale 25 pts; 2 Morpeth 47; 3 Hartlepool Burn Road 58.

North-East Champion: Paul Lowe (Middlesbrough Mandale).

Women: 1 H Robinson (Chester-le-Street W40) 86.36; 2 D Elliott (ClS W40) 88.22; 3 S Morton (Elswick W35) 89.05; 4 K Bentley (Birtley W35) 92.22; 5 C Fowler (Unatt) 93.41.

North-East Champions: Heather Robinson (Chester-le-Street).

Shildon

Shildon are holding their third Anne Marie Readshaw Memorial Track and Field meeting kindly sponsored by Sedgefield based company Filmco Linpac and also supported by Shildon Town, Sedgefield Borough and Durham County Councils.

The event takes place on Sunday, April 13 at the Stadium 2000 Shildon starting at noon, which caters for age groups from under-11 boys and girls to senior men and women.

Events include the 60m, 100m, 200m, 400m 800m, 1600m, 3000m, long jump and shot putt.

The entry fee is £2 per event, all events will be graded with mementoes awarded to the first three overall in each age group. Closing date for entries is Monday, April 7. No entries on the day.

Entry forms are available from the Competitions Secretary 2a Henry Street, Shildon, Co Durham, DL4 1JP. Telephone (01388) 776083.

Thirsk and

Sowerby Harriers

Five Harriers made their way to the coast for the Redcar Half Marathon on a fine but windy day. Along the seafront it felt like a sand storm at times! The event was won by S Heppler of Loftus AC in a time of 1.10.48 and the first lady was H Robinson of Chester-le-Street in 1 hour 26. John Yates finished in an excellent 46th place in 1.22.32, Caroline Pollard took 1.33.58, Peter Scanlon 1.47.22, David Shorrocks 1.48.20 and Paul Iley 1.54.51. Every runner received a quality tee shirt and a goody bag for all their efforts.

Runners are reminded that the NYSD Cross Country Fixture at Richmond on Sunday afternoon.