A quartet of Sunderland Harriers had good reason to be pleased with their night’s work at the BMC Regional Meeting at Chester-le-Street on Monday night.

Sparrow Morley, Mark Smith, Steve Rankin and Steve McMahon all took chunks off their previous best for the three and three-quarter lap race, with McMahon improving his 2013 best by no fewer than 13.6 seconds.

Morley lined up amongst a strong field in the A Race, won by Crook’s outstanding 17-year old Markhim Lonsdale, and came agonisingly close to breaking the four minute barrier in 8th place. Prolific racer Morley, in his 13th track race of the season already, clocked 4:00.4 to advance his best by just over a second.

In the B Race U-20 Mark Smith began to show his true potential over this distance clocking 4:01.8 in second place behind Middlesbrough’s Nathan Baker. Smith's previous best was 4:06.5 and there is clearly more to come this season.

Youth gave way to experience in the C Race as Steve Rankin and Steve McMahon toed the line along with five others. Morpeth’s Ross Floyd took the win, but Rankin ran strongly for third in 4:12.3, a 4.8 second improvement, and McMahon slashed his previous best in 6th with a fine 4:15.4, setting him up nicely for this weekend’s Northern Championships in Middlesbrough.