VETERANS of the road are revving up for their annual test of endurance through the North-East countryside.

A field of 129 vehicles, a mix of cars, motorcycles and light commercial vans registered up to 1954, will take part in the 37th annual Beamish Run, tomorrow.

Previously known as Beamish Reliability Run, it is a recreation of the road trials of the early days of motoring, and traditionally takes place on the Sunday immediately preceding Midsummer's Day.

The 155-mile course both starts and finishes this year from Eden Place Picnic Site, near Beamish Museum, made available for the occasion by Durham County Council.

It is being used because the traditional start and finishing point, in Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, is out of use due to the England and West Indies cricket Test match.

Brian Smith, from Darlington, will be waved off first on his 1913 Triumph Model C 500cc machine, at 8.30am, with the 129th and last starter, Dave Wigham, from Coxhoe, near Durham, in his 1951 Willy's Jeep, due out by 10.15am.

As with previous years, participants will have to pass through ten check points, where they will be tested on the Highway Code, both of today and yesteryear, and general motoring knowledge.

A team of 85 marshals will be dotted round the course, monitoring checkpoints and assessing hill tests, as well as checking competitors' motoring skills and driving etiquette.

Awards will be presented to the overall winner and ten top entrants in various categories, based on a combination of their finishing time and checkpoint test scores.

Good vantage points along the route are at the checkpoints, in the morning stages at the Market Place, in Wolsingham, the Edge Hotel, in Woodside, near Hamsterley Forest, the portico of Bowes Museum, near Barnard Castle, at the CB Hotel, near Langthwaite, Reeth, and at the traditional lunch stop on the village green, at Bainbridge, North Yorkshire, from between 11.45am and about 2.15pm.

Later checkpoints are at the Tan Hill pub, at Tan Hill, high up on the Durham-North Yorkshire county boundary; on the village green, at Romaldkirk, in Teesdale; at Bollihope Quarry, near Stanhope, in Weardale; at the Moorcock pub, in Waskerley, north-west Durham; and on the village green, in Burnhope, between Lanchester and Stanley.

Stanhope Ford, overseen by six marshals, also features on the route.

The first finishers are expected back at Eden Place by about 4pm, with the last of the stragglers in by about 6.30pm.

Organiser George Jolley, of the North-East Pre-War Austin Club, thanked the county council, specifically Michael Munro and Andy Niven, of the countryside and ranger service, as well as Durham Police's traffic section, for their help.

Mr Jolley is also grateful to run veteran Ken Blakelock, of North-East Motor Cycles, for stepping in as event sponsor.