Sadly a poor turnout from the club resulted in having to call on distance runners to compete in sprints, and even Club Secretary Mike Bateman was forced into action in a desperate bid for valuable points.

Morpeth had to finish above Durham City to avoid relegation, however it was an uphill struggle as Durham managed to finish third, and Morpeth ended up fifth.

Women's Team Manager Aiveen Fox, and Claire Reid were the club's only winners on the day as the squad battled to claim respectability.

Fox claimed her victory in the 3000m where she clocked 10m15.5s, and Kate Chapman took the 'B' race in 11m25.9s to secure maximum points.

Fox also had a 'B' race win in the 800m where she clocked 2m26.7s, and Zoe Armstrong took third in the 'A' race in 2m28.2s. Reid won the Shot Putt with 10.53m, and finished second in the Discus with a best of 36.62m.

In the Men's events, there were second places for John Woods (3000m Steeplechase) (11m11.4s), and Mark Brown (5000m) (16m17.6s), and also for Ian Mawdesley (110m Hurdles) (19.4s) and a returning Andrew Wake (Pole Vault) (3.50m).

The Appleby brothers Steven and Paul battled in the quest for points in the Discus, and Shot. In the Discus Paul finished fourth in the 'A' event with his best of 33.31m, and Steven finished third in the 'B' event with his best of 29.76m.

Steven finished fourth in the 'A' event of the Shot with 9.73m, and Paul finished second in the 'B' string with 9.03m.

Martyn Cairns produced an excellent run of 2m05.3s to finish second in the 'B' race of the 800m.

Final match result: 1 City of York 'A' 405pts, 2 Middlesbrough (Mandale) 379.5, 3 Durham 334, 4 Gateshead 325.5, 5 Morpeth 261.5, 6 Scarborough 57.

• Callum Duncan of Morpeth Harriers produced two outstanding performances to win both the U15 Boys' 100m and Long Jump at the fifth and penultimate Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League meeting held at Gateshead's International Stadium. He won the 100m in 12.75s, and the Long Jump with a best of 4.72m.

Another Morpeth winner on the night was Joe Robertshaw who won the U13 Boys' 100m in 13.62s.

There were also good runs in the Junior Men's 1500m by Morpeth's Martyn Cairns and Jordan Scott, who each recorded new personal bests with 4m18.46s and 4m24.34s when they finished fourth and sixth respectively.

Marcus Cram finished third in the U17 Men's 1500m in 4m15.50s, and Wayne Gedge finished sixth in the Senior Men's 100m in 13.26s.

• Alistair MacDonald finished 11th in the New Marske Victorian 10k event in a time of 38m11s. Other Morpeth performers were father and daughter Richard and Lucy Sill who finished 46th and 102nd in respective times of 42m30s and 52m12s.

• This Sunday sees the annual running of the Darlington 10k, and this year sees a brand new course being put into operation.