Saturday wasn’t just about the victorious men’s team at Wrekenton, as the Women’s team finished 4th in their section. It can’t be long before a full-strength Sunderland Harriers women’s team is challenging for regional honours like their male counterparts.

Jess Fox has shown this winter she has what it takes to compete at the top National level on the country, and Nicola Woodward, although slightly below par here, showed with a top 200 placing in the National that there is more to come from her too. If team captain Colleen Compson can begin to build a team around Jess and Nicola, not to mention the injured Sarah O’Mahoney who performed very well earlier in the season, and if younger athletes like Sarah Knight and Eve Quinn continue to progress as they are, the women’s squad will only become more competitive.

At Wrekenton Vikki Cotton continued her return to form with a fine 12th place, not far ahead of the ultra-consistent Emma North who placed 16th. Nicola Woodward, perhaps showing the effects of a long, arduous winter, nevertheless grafted hard to finish 92nd, and Rachael Moore closed out the scoring quartette in 116th, five places, but only two seconds ahead of fast-finishing Maria Davis.

Catherine Morris (171st), Lucie Forster (217th) and Susan Clughen (222nd) rounded off the women’s finishers for Sunderland.