‘Athletics Ashes’ to boost Great North Run crowds
Jan 2 2009 by Paul James, The Journal
THE eyes of the sporting world will be on the North East this September when two of the biggest events in the calendar take place on the same day.
The planet’s biggest half marathon and England’s final one-day cricket international against Australia are being held on Sunday, September 20.
And organisers of the Great North Run will be marking the occasion in style by hosting the first ever “Athletics Ashes” on Tyneside that weekend.
Named the Great North City Games, the England v Australia event will involve sprints, hurdles, pole vault, high jump and shot putt, along with the traditional one-mile circuit of the Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides for middle distance events.
It will be the first time England and Australia have met in an official athletics meeting at senior level and will take place on Saturday, September 19 – on the eve of the Bupa Great North Run.
The event has the support and involvement of official athletics bodies, England Athletics and Athletics Australia.
John Graves, chair of the England Athletics Board, said: “England is delighted to be part of a venture that will help to raise the profile of the sport.
“As we edge towards the London Olympics in 2012, athletics has to seize the initiative and ‘raise the bar’ in terms of innovation and excitement to capture hearts and minds.”
Former Olympian Brendan Foster’s company Nova International successfully tested the format when staging a series of televised 100 metres races on the Quaysides in October, as part of the build-up programme to the 2008 Bupa Great North Run.
Nova managing director Dave Newton said the street format could be expanded to other venues around the country.
He said: “In the past by definition, track and field athletics have taken place in a stadium or an indoor arena. We experimented with the 100m sprints and they attracted plenty of support with spectators enjoying being so close to the athletes that they could only see from a distance in a stadium. We believe although there will always be a place for the traditional track and field meetings, athletics can receive a massive boost in both popularity from this new style of competition.”
Durham cricket chiefs have had unprecedented demand for tickets to see England v Australia at the Riverside, which has the potential for a nail-biting finale to the one-day tournament that follows the Ashes. Durham sold a record-breaking 6,000 tickets in one day after they went on general sale in December. The club is expecting to release extra seats next month after the development at the south east side of the ground.
The confusion over Sri Lanka’s visit ended in December when it was confirmed that the West Indies would replace them and tour England again this summer, with a Test match taking place at the Riverside in May.
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