Youngsters make their mark in Durham County Schools' Cross Country Championships

Houghton Harrier Alex Brown (Durham Central) won the senior boys' race

The nationals are at at Norwich, on Saturday, March 18.

But, before then, they travel to Kirkby Stephen Grammar School for the Inter-County Championships a week on Saturday.

Jamie Reed, of Durham Central, was the intermediate boys' winner

Sixteen athletes will be selected for the match and then a final eight will be selected for the English Schools’ Championships which are staged at the Norfolk Showground.

Durham Central were by far the most successful team in winning five of the eight team races and providing four individual champions.

Sunderland, who compete under the Wearside banner, showed some improvement in finishing three teams compared to none last year.

But Houghton and Washington (West Wearside) were much more successful in providing two individual medallists and 12 runners in the first 10.

Results, Senior Boys (Under-18) 6.8km: 1 A Brown (Durham Central) 23.45, 2 M Wade (Durham Central) 24.09, 3 C Allan (Durham Central) 24.14, 4 L Pickering (Durham Central) 24.28, 5 J Grehan-Bradley (Durham Central) 25.12, 6 B Lambert (Darlington) 25.12, 7 J Brown (Gateshead) 25.41, 8 S Mackie (Wearside) 25.54, 9 J Rainbow (Gateshead) 26.25, 10 J Wood (Darlington) 26.50. Team: 1 Durham Central 26.

Intermediate Boys (Under-16) (5.3km): 1 J Reed (Durham Central) 18.46, 2 B Horsfield (Durham Central) 18.47, 3 M Harris (Darlington) 18.51, 4 C Thomas (SW Durham) 19.02, 5 M Phillips (West Wearside) 19.10, 6 J Martin (S Tyne) 19.11, 7 L Charlton (Wearside) 19.49, 8 R Watson (SW Durham) 20.02, 9 D Openshaw (West Wearside) 20.05, 10 J Le Poidevin (Darlington) 20.10. Team: 1 Durham Central 63

Junior Boys (Under-14) (4.5km): 1 D Joyce (Gateshead) 16.14, 2 S Gibson (Durham Central) 16.19, 3 P Cook (Durham Central) 16.25, 4 D Race (West Wearside) 17.01, 5 J Roberts (Darlington) 17.27, 6 C Phillips (Durham Central) 17.27, 7 J Barnshaw (S Tyne) 17.29, 8 W McKenna (Durham Central) 17.37, 9 T Wraith (SW Durham) 17.41, 10 J Wraith (SW Durham) 17.44. Team: 1 Darlington 74

Year 7 Boys (Under-12) (2.3km): 1 C Perkins (West Wearside) 8.12, 2 C Wood (Darlington) 8.53, 3 O Davison (Durham Central) 8.55, 4 T Moss-Henry (Darlington) 8.57, 5 G Pease (SW Durham) 9.03, 6 G McArthur (Gateshead) 9.06, 7 A Barrett (Gateshead) 9.07, 8 L McBeth (West Wearside) 9.08. 1 Durham Central 95

Senior Girls (Under-18) (4.5km): 1 L-E Hunter (Darlington) 18.37, 2 O Bateman (Gateshead) 19.44, 3 L Kirkham (Darlington) 20.03, 4 K Dawset (Durham Central) 20.22, 5 S Lipscombe (S Tyne) 20.27, 6 C Kenyon (Durham Central) 20.50, 7 M Foggon (Durham Central) 21.03, 8 S Abel (Darlington) 21.17, 9 K Noble (Darlington) 21.53, 10 E Gill (Gateshead) 22.14. No team completed

Intermediate Girls (Under-16) (3.8km): 1 I Pentland (SW Durham) 17.12, 2 C Roberts (Darlington) 17.54, 3 S Robson (S Tyne) 18.33, 4 E Hardie (West Wearside) 18.37, 5 E Quinn (West Wearside) 18.40, 6 J Leslie (S Tyne) 19.00, 7 H Short (Derw) 19.06, 8 S Jones (Darlington) 19.07, 9 S Knight (Wearside) 19.23, 10 L Hardie (West Wearside) 19.34. Team: 1 Darlington 52

Junior Girls (Under-14) (3km): 1 E Chong (Durham Central) 11.36, 2 L James (West Wearside) 12.06, 3 R Wren (Gateshead) 12.22, 4 A Pigford (Durham Central) 12.26, 5 C Reid (Gateshead) 12.33, 7 T Graham (SW Durham) 12.34, 8 S Newby (Durham Central) 12.35, 9 E Salmon (Durham Central) 12.42, 10 A Lewis (Gateshead) 12.45. Team: 1 Durham Central 61

Year 7 Girls (Under-12) (2.3km): 1 E Keeler-Clarke (Durham Central) 9.00, 2 K Francis (Gateshead) 9.25, 3 A Thwaites (Gateshead) 9.32, 4 L Scothern (West Wearside) 9.35, 5 M Openshaw (West Wearside) 9.43, 6 H Cook (Durham Central) 9.52, 7 E McKinnon (West Wearside) 9.58, 8 F Archer (Durham Central) 9.59. Team: 1 Durham Central 50