North East athletes in road relays

IT WON’T be football fans heading for Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on Saturday but hundreds of North East athletes and their supporters who will be making for the Northern Athletics Road Relay Championships.

With the young athletes’ relays now combined with the senior version, a number of the region’s clubs have boosted the entry for the event with the course situated around and adjacent to the Premier League stadium.

Morpeth, Birtley and North Shields Poly are represented in six of eight events on the programme.

Durham City and Gateshead have entered three relays while Elvet Striders, Jarrow and Hebburn, New Marske, Sunderland and Tyne Bridge take their chance in the senior men’s six-stage contest.

The first 25 teams to finish in the senior men’s relay qualify for the National Road Relay Championships on October 7 at Sutton Park.