LATE withdrawals have seriously weakened the North-East's hopes of winning the senior men's team title in today's UK CAU Inter Counties Cross Country Championships at Nottingham.

The region - third last year - will be without the services of Dominic Bannister, a regular member of Great Britain's World and European Championships squads in recent years, former AAA half marathon champion Ian Hudspith and another long-serving international, Stewy Bell, while two other top runners, Michael Openshaw, the reigning North-East champion, and former Commonwealth Games marathon bronze medallist Mark Hudspith, declined selection.

Today's fixture incorporates the World Cross Country Championships trial and other regions are expected to field their strongest teams as individual athletes bid to win places in Lausanne.

But the North-East is still expected to give a good account of itself as 2001 cross country champion Andy Caine, of Tynedale, tries to force his way into contention for a trip to Switzerland at the end of March, and the region's selectors turned to younger athletes to fill the gaps.

But one of their choices, Lee Browell, has had to cry off with a virus infection and will not travel with clubmate Mark Hood, fourth in the North-East Championships.

The 21-year-old Houghton-le-Spring athlete will have represented the North-East at every age group since making his inter-counties debut as an under-13, and his steady progress took him to an 11th placing in last week's Northern Championships in Manchester.

The North-East senior men's team will be: Andy Caine (Tynedale), Martin Scaife (Chester-le-Street), Terry Wall, David Swinburne, Ivan Hollingsworth and Michael Morris (all Morpeth), Mark Hood (Sunderland) and Morgan Donnelly (Tynedale).

The region have a great chance of winning team medals in the junior men's race with the following team: Chris Lamb (Chester-le-Street), Richard kemp, Norman Younger and Patrick Martin (all Sunderland), Marc Elliott and Chris Parr (Gateshead), Shaun Moralee (Durham City) and Ryan McLeod (Elswick), son of former Olympic Games 10,000m silver-medallist Mike McLeod.

Chester-le-Street, who have established themselves as the strongest women's club in the region, winning the silver medals in last week's Northern Championships, supply five members of the senior women's team at Nottingham - Ruth Brown, Kathryn Waugh, Morage McDonnell, Heather Robinson and Angie Watson. They are joined by newly-crowned Northern champion Sonia Thomas (Sale), Claire Smallwood (Jarrow and Hebburn), Marie Stansmore (Middlesbrough Mandale) and Meryl Dodd (Bingley) in a squad which could press hard for the title.

The North-East will be trying to regain the overall trophy they held for six consecutive years before losing last spring.

* Sunderland Harrier Brian Rushworth, back in the sport after recovering from a serious ankle injury which kept him out of action for more than a year, competes for his first over-40 title in today's North-East Veterans' Cross Country Championships at Branksome Comprehensive School, Darlington.

Rushworth won a record ten North-East senior men's cross country titles before losing his crown at Consett in 2000.

Today's meeting starts at 11.30am with a 5K race for women and over-70 men, with the men's 10K championship, for over-40s and other age groups, off at 12 noon.