The Northern Cross Country Championships moves to a new venue when they are staged on Saturday at Harewood House, Leeds.
The landscaped South Park, below the house, will be used as the area of the event and depending on the success of the championships, it could stage the National Championships next year.
Sunderland Harriers will be looking to their Junior Under-20 Men in the hunt for team medals in the four-to-count competition.
They will be relying on Loughborough student Mark Smith, Chris Bell, Jack Tallentire, Sean Mackie and Joseph Pomfret.
They won team bronze medals in the North Eastern Championships in December in the three-to-count competition through Smith, Bell and Mackie.
Pomfret, the grandson of 1964 Olympic steeplechaser Ernie, will be making his Sunderland Harriers’ championship debut.
Sunderland won this title in 2002 when they romped away from the competition by scoring 58 points to second placed Liverpool’s 97.
The team scorers that day at Allestree Park, Derby were Richard Kemp 10th, Lee Browell 11th, Gavin Massingham 18th and Mark Hood 19th. And to show the strength of the squad, they also placed Peter Groark 22nd and Chris Stoker 28th.
The Wearsiders’ women’s team were also medallists in the North Eastern Championships at Redcar in December, winning bronze medals.
The team of Alice Smith, Vicky Haswell, Nikki Woodward and Vikki Cotton are back in action at Harewood House, but a place in the frame this time looks beyond them with the stiffer competition.
The Under-17 women’s team were also medallists at the championships, but this time they lack a fourth counter for the team race.
Nevertheless, Sarah Knight and Eve Quinn still have plenty to run for as the North Eastern team selectors will be finalising their teams the next day for the Inter Counties Cross Country Championships at Loughborough in March...