Tasha Danvers' win in the 100m hurdles clinched victory for London South

By Mike Costello BBC 5 Live athletics commentator in Cardiff

Britain's only Beijing gold medallist was missing from the inaugural Super 8 event in Cardiff on Wednesday and a tiff over sponsorship left a few more bullet-holes in the start lists.

Maybe the night's play-list should have started with "The Only Way Is Up".

Cardiff was an encouraging start without being an unqualified success

But that would have taken us back 20 years and more. Super 8 is about leaving (some of) the past behind and embracing those who had yet to take their first breath when Yazz was at the top of the charts.

Ratings-wise, athletics needs a performance-enhancer.

"If we don't change we die," was the warning from Seb Coe recently at the unveiling of the Diamond League, the new global format to be introduced next year.

Here in the UK, the Super 8 concept is not designed - as many forums might have you believe - to trample all over tradition.

Stars like Tomlinson deserved more profile in a hectic schedule

Without the obstruction of blinkers, it is possible to witness an attempt to deliver the pure appeal of athletics to a different, wider audience.

Cardiff was an encouraging start without being an unqualified success. Eight teams - Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, plus London North and London South - went at it in 22 events.

Crammed into little more than two hours, it was too much. The hectic atmosphere is a key ingredient but there were clashes of interest.

Long jumper Chris Tomlinson, fifth in the 2004 Olympics, was one of the main attractions on the night. Yet his last jump was given second billing beneath the runners for the women's 800m, who were being introduced in sound and vision.

It was an unnecessary invitation to ignore a star and the presence of the likes of Tomlinson is vital to the credibility of a fledgling event.

Much of the information imparted to the 2,500-strong crowd was more suited to a conventional meeting like the World Championship Trials than Super 8.

606: DEBATE To all you pessimists out there, if you didn't go you missed a good night of athletics bestevent

The focus should be on people and personalities, not split times and PBs. Having drawn newcomers into the tent, why make them feel like outsiders?

Come the show-closing relays, a simple run-down of "who-needs-what" in the points standings was called for. Instead, they were races run without context.

But the governing body UKA would hardly have expected to swing from the chandeliers in celebration after the first one. There is much to be done but also much to like.

The level of competition provides healthy opportunities for athletes who have outgrown club class but are not quite ready for the full upgrade.

There are those cricket traditionalists who would rather stick pins in their eyes than watch a game of Twenty20

And there is prize-money too, starting at £1,000 for each individual winner.

As Olympic bronze medallist Tasha Danvers said after her victory for London South in the women's 100m hurdles: "It's brilliant for the athletes who wouldn't normally get the chance to go to Europe to compete.

"A lot of people have been begging for this to happen in the UK."

Danvers spends much of her time in Los Angeles and revels in the fast-food version of track and field.

Cardiff was a pilot. The plan is to expand to three meetings next year, with the ultimate aim of staging one in each of the seven cities in Olympic year 2012.

There are those cricket traditionalists who would rather stick pins in their eyes than watch a game of Twenty20. Their kinfolk in athletics feel the same.

To them, change is needed only when parking.

But the sport must change, and Super 8 is a start.

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