NEWLY-CROWNED North-East cross country champion Rosie Smith scored a comfortable victory over her arch-rival and fellow Great Britain international Alyson Dixon in the sell-out Saltwell Harriers 10K road race at Gateshead.

The 29-year-old Durham City Harrier, who won her fourth regional cross country title on Newcastle’s Town Moor seven days earlier, finished seventh overall in the 500-strong field in a time of 35 mins 6 secs, seven places and 39 seconds ahead of the 36-year-old Sunderland Stroller to score her third 10K success of the year.

The men’s race was won by Cheltenham’s Great Britain duathlete Philip Wylie, 4th in this summer’s World Duathlon Championships in Spain.

Wylie, winner of the Ray Harrison Billingham 10K and the New Year’s Day Resolution 10K on his previous competitive visits to the North-East, clocked a modest 31 mins 50 secs, more than two minutes outside his personal-best, to beat Teessider Richard Morrell, son of former Great Britain middle-distance star Tony Morrell, by 34 secs, with Durham City’s Dan Jenkin a further 37 seconds away in third place.

Results – Men: 1 P Wylie (Cheltenham) 31 min s 50 secs; 2 R Morrell (Unatt) 32.24; 3 D Jenkin (Durham City) 33.01; 4 M Fenwick (Tyne Bridge) 33.38; 5 B McMillan (Jarrow & Hebburn) 34.37; 6 J Dunce (Tyne Bridge) 34.56; 7 T Charlton (Tyne Bridge) 35.10; 8 S Bell (Blackhill M45) 35.15; 9 M Barwood (Chichester) 35.19; 10 J Bell (Blackhill) 35.35. M40 H Fletcher (Blaydon) 39.02; M50 I Crampton (Dur C) 35.38.

Women: 1 R Smith (Dur C) 35.06; 2 A Dixon (Sunderland Strollers W35) 35.45; 3 A Sneddon (Jarrow & Hebburn) 38.12; 4 C Simpson (J&H W35) 39.47; 5 J Cram (Morpeth) 40.28.