Hexham plans the best yet
Aug 24 2006 By Bill Mcguirk, The Evening Chronicle
The Hexham International Combined Meeting on September 2-3 promises to be the best yet, with athletes from around 12 countries expected to line-up at the picturesque Tynedale venue.
Meeting organiser Richard Hunter is eagerly looking forward to welcoming some of the world's leading multi-eventers to the annual combined events festival in the Northumberland market town, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
And while Dean Macey, who managed to patch himself up to compete and win two years ago, is a non-starter this time round, a superb two-days' competition is in store.
"The fixture has grown immensely over the years and its popularity is now world-wide, which shows in this year's truly international line-up," said Hunter.
"The Hexham event is quickly becoming one of the leading multi-event fixtures on the calendar, especially amongst European athletes, and without Tynedale District Council's continued support then that would not be the case."
Though Macey will not be returning to try to regain his title, there is still a big interest in homegrown talent who will face athletes from Iceland, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, America, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Estonia and Finland.
"Britain's Ed Dunford and Kevin Sempers are two very talented young multi-eventers, and it will be interesting to see how they perform against much stronger and more experienced athletes," added Hunter.
"At the other end of the spectrum Julie Holman, who finished sixth in the Commonwealth Games in Sydney earlier this year, has been one of the country's leading heptathletes for a number of years, and it would be nice to see her get near to her best in what will surely be a terrific contest."
Last year's Hexham winner, Vitally Smirnov (Uzbekistan) returns to defend his decathlon title, but he will have to be at the top of his game to hold off Estonia Olympian Indrek Turi and former World Junior champion Aki Heikkinen of Finland.
The decathlon also sees the return of Italy's William Frullani, who finished runner-up behind Macey in 2004.
The women's heptathlon entries are headed by Ukraine duo Natalya Dobrynska, the World Indoor silver medallist of 2004, and Lydmilla Blonska, the current World Indoor champion.
Competition gets under way at 10am on both days and spectators are most welcome.
NTHE BMC are holding a series of 1,500 metres races at noon on the Saturday.
