Aussie Johnson is based in Britain

Johnson won the race from Newcastle to South Shields in 2004 in a personal best time of 67 minutes 55 seconds.

She will face Susan Chepkemei, another former title holder and Berhane Adere, second behind Paula Radcliffe in 2003.

"It's always a tough race over a hard course, but one I'm looking forward to," said Johnson, 27, who has been running on the US circuit this summer.

Among her other rivals in the Great North Run will be Britain's Jo Pavey who is making her debut over the distance.

She picked up a calf injury at the recent World Athletics Final which prevented her representing Team Europe in last weekend's IAAF World Cup in Athens.

Matthew Turnbull, GNR elite athletes director, said: "Jo's had a rest and is back in training, so I'm pretty confident she'll be on the start line."

Olympic and world marathon champions Stefano Baldini and Jaouad Gharib head the men's field along with world record holder Paul Tergat.

South Africa's Hendrick Ramaala a two-time GNR champion along with British number one Jon Brown, contesting his first major race of the year, also line up.