THE district’s young runners caught the eye with impressive performances at a county cross country event in South Tyneside on Tuesday.

The run, hosted by Northumberland Schools Athletics, challenged the participants to a course at the Temple Memorial Park in South Shields.

There was a second placed finish for Tynedale’s Zach Morris in the minor boys’ race. His time of 10m 58s was closely behind the 10m 42s ran by winner Theo Dragoi, of Newcastle.

There was a top 10 finish for Tynedale’s Sam Davidson, who was sixth with a time of 11m 19s.

In the junior boys’ race, Leo White, of Tynedale, was fourth after a 15m 14s run.

The district’s competitors made their mark in the intermediate race, which was won by T. Baldson, of East Northumberland, in 18m 03s.

Hot on his heels, in second and third place respectively, were Tynedale’s Rowan Bennett (18m 09s), and Charlie Daley (18m 29s).

Also flying the flag for Tynedale was Joseph Anderson, who ran in 19m 56s to finish 10th.

Aidan Pinkney was the district’s sole representative in the senior boys’ race, and he finished eighth with a time of 24m 52s.

Tynedale’s Poppy Old came within a whisker of winning the minor girls’ race. Her time of 10m 56s was just a second behind that of Newcastle’s Hannah Weightman (10m 55s), and she had to settle for second place.

Other local runners were closely behind, with impressive runs from Tabitha Robson (11m 16s), and Sionade Creighton (11m 42s), earning them fourth and fifth placed finishes respectively.

In seventh place was Tynedale’s Lucy Milburn, after completing the race in 11m 50s. Lily Coulson ensured five top 10 places for the district in the race, finishing ninth with a time of 11m 56s. Abigail Leiper, of Tynedale, was second in the intermediate girls’ race with a time of 11m 27s. Tynedale’s Beth Fraser (18m 56s) was seventh in the senior girls’ race.

Newcastle won the Gill Mooney Cup team prize. Tynedale, who won the cup last year, were in second place this time around. There was a strong turnout from local runners, with others finishing in the top 15 and top 20 of races with 50-plus participants.

The event, which included youngsters from across the North-East, was hailed a success.

The sun came out in South Shields on a day which offered good conditions. The event was based at the town’s Temple Park Centre. For full results visit northumberlandschoolsathletics.co.uk