Young athletes show their mettle in the snow for Durham County Schools' Cross Country Championships

They had qualified for the championships by finishing in the first 10 of their area championships.Darlington dominated the event by winning five of the eight team events.

The first 16 to finish now compete in the Inter-County match at the same venue at Barnard Castle School before teams are selected for the English Schools’ Championships.

These will be staged at Temple Newsham Park, Leeds, on Saturday, March 17.

Age groups are: Juniors (Under-15), Intermediates (Under-17) and Seniors (Under-19).

Sunderland runners were competing under the Wearside banner, while Houghton and Washington competed for West Wearside.

Wearside’s only medallist was Sarah Knight, who was runner-up in the senior gials’ 4k race in a time of 17min 47sec.

Houghton Harrier Henry Johnson won the intermediate boys’ 5.7k event in 21 minutes exactly, finishing 36 seconds clear of his closest challenger.

Results: Senior Boys (U18) (7km) - 1 C Allan 26.29 (Durham Cen), 2 M Harris (Darl) 26.48, 3 J Brown (Gates) 27.17, 4 S Mackie (Wear) 27.36, 5 M Phillips (West Wear), 27.38, 6 R Watson (SW Dur) 27.41, 7 J Langley (Dur Cen) 27.54, 8 J Pomfret (Sth Tyneside) 27.56, 9 B Horsfield (Dur Cen) 28.11, 10 J Martin (Sth Tyne) 28.15.

Team (6 to score) 1 Durham Central 55.

Inter Boys (U16) (5.7km) - 1 H Johnson (West Wear) 21.00, 2 S Gibson (Dur Cen) 21.36, 3 C Thomas (SW Dur) 22.01, 4 D Joyce (Gates) 22.23, 5 D Boyers (Darl) 22.38, 6 J Barnshaw (Sth Tyne) 22.57, 7 J Roberts (Darl ) 23.01, 8 I Taylor (Darl) 23.03, 9 J Mawer (SW Dur) 23.10, 10 A Phillips (Dur Cen) 23.12.

Team: 1 Darlington 75

Junior Boys (U14) (4km) - 1 D Race (W Wear) 15.28, 2 C Perkins (W Wear) 15.45, 3 A Russell (Darl) 15.55, 4 P Cook (Dur Cen) 16.00, 5 J Russell (Darl) 16.05, 6 D Hughes (Der) 16.11, 7 C Coulson (W Wear) 16.27, 8 B Dowsett (Dur Cen) 16.28, 9 D Revell (Eas) 16.29, 10 J Wraith (SW Tyne) 16.32.

Team: 1 Darlington 101

Minor Boys (U12) (2.4km) 1 D Richardson (SW Dur) 9.52, 2 D Wilson (Darl) 10.01, 3 A Milne (Gates), 10.03, 4 G Wilkinson (SW Dur) 10.04, 5 G Beevers (W Wear) 10.05, 6 J Armstrong (W Wear) 10.06, 7 B Gives (S Tyne) 10.09, 8 L Bell (Wear), 10.12, 9 S Terry (Dur Cen) 10.14, 10 W Henderson (Dur Cen) 10.15.

Team:1 Durham Central 77

Senior Girls (U18) (4km) 1 L-E Hunter (Darl) 16.43, 2 S Knight (Wear) 17:47, 3 E Quinn (W Wear) 17.56, 4 S Jones (Darl) 18.13, 5 H Short (Der)18.21, 6 M Foggon (Dur Cen) 18.31, 7 K Powett (Dur Cen) 18.38, 8 L Kirkham (Darl) 18.49; 9 A Jack ((Dur Cen) 19.19, 10 L Thornley (Gates) 19.41.

Team: 1 Durham Central 60

Inter Girls (U16) (4km) - 1 I Pentland (SW Dur) 16.05, 2 C Roberts (Darl) 16.37, 3 L James (W Wear) 17.15, 4 A Pigford 17.35, 5 E Hardie (W Wear) 17.43, 6 E Phillips (Darl) 17.48, 7 R Wren (Gates) 18.13, 8 S Robson (S Tyne) 18.34, 9 M Noble (Darl) 19.06, 10 C Fairclough (S W Dur) 19.37.

Team: 1 Gateshead 91

Junior Girls (U14) (3.1km) - 1 E Chong (Dur Cen) 12.52, 2 A Leonard (W Wear) 13.08, 3 J Graham (SW Dur) 13.18, 4 E Keeler-Clarke ( Dur Cen) 13.20, 5 C Reid (Gates) 13.23, 6 K Franham (Gates) 13.27, 7 L Scothern (W Wear) 13.41, 8 N Phillips (Eas) 13.57, 9 S Newby (Dur Cen) 13.57, 10 A Thwaites (Gates) 14.06. Team: 1 Durham Central 60

Minor Girls (U12) (2.4km) 1 F Clarkson (Gates) 10.40, 2 J Peart (Dur Cen) 10.42, 3 A Local (Dur Cen) 10.52, 4 H Bowyer (Dur Cen) 10.54, 5 T Abbott (Wear) 11.02, 6 A Crowder (Wear) 11.03, 7 R Macugnway (Gates) 11.03, 8 F Gibson (Dur Cen) 11.11, 9 K Watson (Gates) 11.19, 10 H Robinson (W Wear) 11.20.

Team: 1 Durham Central 63