North-East veteran Brian Rushworth showed his younger rivals the way home in the Hylton Castle multi-terrain race in Sunderland.

The 44-year-old Sunderland Harrier, twice UK Masters cross country champion, trailed Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall until the last half mile, when he surged past the recent winner of the Raby Castle and Newton Aycliffe 10Ks to win by five seconds.

Rushworth, who also won the North-East senior men's cross country championship a record ten times, admitted afterwards he had to give it his all to overcome Wall's challenge. "I really had to graft for that - it was like a sprint all the way," said the Sunderland college lecturer.

Sunderland Harriers dominated the race, filling six of the top seven men's places and also providing the women's winner in 16-year-old Laurie Smith.

Results - Men: 1 B Rushworth (Sunderland M40) 13.37; 2 T Wall (Morpeth) 13.42; 3 T Doughty (Sund M40) 14.05; 4 S Potts (Sund) 14.24; 5 G Lancaster (Sund) 14.59.

Women: 1 L Smith (Sund) 18.55; 2 L Valentine (Sund) 20.47); 3 J Woodall (Sunderland Strollers) 24.06.

Entries are invited for the Sunderland 5K, which incorporates the North-East Championship, at Silksworth Sports Complex next Wednesday night (7.15).

The annual Michael Page Memorial multi-terrain race will be hosted by Houghton Harriers at Hetton Park on Sunday, September 7.

Simon Williamson pulled off a surprise victory by beating fellow Briton and race favourite Craig Pickering into second place in the 100m at the European Under-23 Championships in Debrecen last night.

Williamson finished in 10.10 seconds with Pickering, the European Cup champion, 0.04secs behind as both recorded personal bests and broke the championship record of 10.16 set on Thursday by Frenchman Martial Mbandjock, who took bronze in the final.

''Under pressure, I don't usually drive out of the blocks but I did this time,'' said Williamson. ''And when I saw Craig coming back at me I kept my technique. I've been waiting two years for this.''

Britain came within millimetres of the women's 100m title, too, but after a five-minute wait, Kent's Montell Douglas was awarded the silver medal in the same time, 11.66, as winner Verena Sailer, of Germany.