Morpeth and Sunderland Harriers had their own battle at the British Masters Road Relay Championships in Sutton Park, Birmingham.

And it was the Northumberland outfit who claimed bragging rights after the six-stage contest unfolded.

However, such was the strength of the opposition, both teams finished outside the medal positions with Morpeth finishing in eighth place in 99min 14sec, with the Wearsiders finishing one place back in 99:19.

On the first leg, Kevin Jeffress brought Sunderland home in sixth place while Morpeth (Paul Waterson) were back in 38th spot over a minute adrift.

Steve McMahon improved Sunderland’s position by two places while Morpeth’s Neil Wilkinson saw off seven rivals to move up into 31st place.

Sunderland were still in fourth place at the midway point thanks to Ian Dixon’s effort while Tony Lewis continued Morpeth’s forward move up into 25th position.

The local positions changed dramatically on leg four with Ian Hudspith storming through the field to hand Morpeth over in eighth place while recording the fastest overall time of the day.

Hudspith, despite being 44, was competing in the over-35 section and his time bettered all of his younger rivals.

Sunderland (Noel Hitchcock) were now back in 10th spot, though, just six seconds behind the Northumbrians.

On stage five, Morpeth (Rob Hancox) relinquished one place, while Matthew Knowles consolidated Sunderland’s 10th-place position on the penultimate leg.

Just 10 seconds separated Morpeth and Sunderland as Mick Thomsen and Michael Thompson set off. Both sets of supporters were in full cry as Thompson eased closer to Thomsen, but the line came just in time with Morpeth hanging on by the narrowest of margins.

At the finish, Thames Hare and Hounds were victorious with a time of 94min 49sec with Morpeth recording 99:14 and Sunderland 99:19.

Tyne Bridge also made the trip to the Midlands venue and finished in 20th place with Paul Turnbull the quickest of their sextet.

In the over-45 four-stage contest, Tyne Bridge finished in fifth place – Keith Smith fastest – in 66:47, just 39 seconds adrift of a podium finish.

Morpeth finished in 18th place (72:19) with Phil Walker their quickest.

Elswick Harriers were the only team to bring back medals, their over-65 trio of Mark McNally, Graham Leslie and Harry Matthews finishing runners-up behind Oxford City.

Oxford always held the upper hand as they led the Tyneside club by 33 seconds at the first change-over.

McNally was in second place after his club’s fastest and second-fastest overall clocking of 19:14, before handing over to Leslie, who managed to claw back 21 seconds on the leaders.

Matthews had the task of running the glory leg, but Oxford had somethingin reserve and they managed toextend their advantage once again to come home in 59:48 against Elswick’s 60:09.

In the women’s four-stage relay, Tyne Bridge missed out on medals, finishing in fourth place with a time of 76:16.

Alison Dargie, having her firstouting since the London Marathon,was the team’s quickest with a time of 17:41.

Sunderland, with Judith Thirlwell, the best on the day, finished in 18th place in 85:01.