Alistair Brownlee capped a fine day for Yorkshire runners at the Northern Athletics Cross-Country Championships.

The Bingley Harrier won the under-20 men's title, while clubmate Holly Shreeve was second in the under-15 girls' race.

In the senior events, Harriers' Victoria Wilkinson was fifth in a very competitive women's race and Mick Watson came fifth in the men's equivalent.

The championships returned - after a ten-year absence - to a revamped Roundhay Park course in Leeds which, rather than the usual mud, was like a cricket pitch in parts, although the famous Hill 60' helped those with a fell-running background.

After main rival Ricky Stevenson (New Marske) dropped out while in contention midway through the contest, Brownlee went on to win the junior title by 36 seconds from Morpeth's Jonny Taylor and younger brother Jonathan Brownlee (Bradford Grammar School).

In the senior women's race, defending champion Hatti Dean - who was 15th in the World Championships in Mombasa ten months ago - took an immediate lead.

But she was soon swamped by eventual winner Gemma Miles and her Kendal team-mate Sarah Tunstall as well as Greater Manchester champion Carly Needham (Rochdale).

Wilkinson stayed in close contention alongside Susan Partridge (Leeds City) and Pauline Powell of Blackburn.

Dean hung on to fourth place to help Hallamshire beat Bingley by a single point to win the team gold medal. Wilkinson's silver-medal colleagues were her sister Mary, Sharon Taylor and Pauline Munro.

Leeds City's Dave Webb was a surprise winner of the senior men's 12K ahead of Lancastrian trio Steve Vernon, Tom Lancashire and Andi Jones.

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