With a certain Mr O' Gara representing England in Glasgae it was left to an elite band to deliver on the fun and in the run at the NEHL fixture in Blaydon, and boy did they deliver!

Update: Full results links - men and ladies

As the whole of North East athletics* worried that the bells were in Scotland - reinforcements were found in the MetroCentre pound shop on Saturday morning - PHEW!

Anyway, on to the the serious stuff, and coming home in third place at Blaydon...

were the donuts (which may have been scoffed on the sly while the ladies were racing) - modelled here by the lovely Brian Hetherington (who was also brilliant as usual in the race by the way).

And in second place...

Luscious Liam's lovely banana cake - mmmmmm..............and young* Smarty's not doing so bad on the running front either.

And in first place...

Was Tricky's Pizza - two varieties as well! Thanks Richard and great running!

Anyway, as well as some great cooking and eating performances there were some superb runs by the Green and Gold massiv, including:

- Chris Smith who was first counter for the lads in his first NEHL fixture of the season - nice shiny shoes Chris!

- Sally Slater turned many a head with a fantastic XC debut

- Tony Maddocks - you know someone's running well when they arrive in the tent pointing their watch in the air (again)

- Vicky Hindson - our own Iron Lady - steamrollered her way into the top 10 from the medium pack

So, next up in the XC fixtures is the North East Champs in two weeks at Cram - are you cool enough?

Thanks for a great day everyone.

PS Loads of pix here