GREAT NORTH CITY GAMES
Venue: Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside Date: 19 Sept, 1300-1430 BST
Coverage:Watch live on BBC Two, Red Button and BBC Sport website  Young guns Selma Kajan and William Sharman are in action for their countries
A month after Freddie Flintoff and Co got their hands on the Ashes urn on the cricket field, the battle between England and Australia moves to the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead this Saturday, on the eve of the Great North Run. Instead of Stuart Broad and James Anderson, Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu and world 1500m silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey lead the England attack in this new format, with 11 events taking place on Newcastle and Gateshead's Quayside.  | People can watch me doing the hurdles with a burger in their hands! |
And the larger-than-life Flintoff character will doubtless be played by 110m hurdles star William Sharman, who stunned onlookers when he came fourth at the recent World Championships in Berlin. "It's always a gentle rivalry with the Aussies but I'd love to win the Ashes," Sharman told BBC Sport. The competition, which also features world bronze medallist Jenny Meadows (mile), Mo Farah (mile) and Marlon Devonish (150m), is the brainchild of Great North Run founder and BBC commentator Brendan Foster. | ENGLAND STARS 60m - Tyrone Edgar 150m - Marlon Devonish 110m hurdles - Andy Turner Pole vault - Steve Lewis Women's mile - Lisa Dobriskey, Jenny Meadows Long jump - Chris Tomlinson/Greg Rutherford Men's mile - Mo Farah, Andy Baddeley 100m hurdles - Sarah Claxton Two miles - Emily Pigeon |
After the success of sprint events in Newcastle last year, and Usain Bolt's 150m fireworks before the Great Manchester Run in June, organisers want the world to continue feasting on this athletics dish in its shorter format. The English and Australian organisers are already talking to other potential hosting cities in the UK and abroad. "Usain running the fastest [150m] race on Earth in Manchester showed it could work in a city centre," said Andy Graffin, organising project manager for the Great North City Games. "The concept of cricket's Twenty20 has been amazingly successful in taking a very popular game, creating a new audience and making it more TV and spectator-friendly.  Bolt lit up Manchester's streets earlier in the summer with a blistering run |
"We want to have all of that but keep the essence of athletics without the gimmicks. This is a proper competition and we're packaging it in a way that will hopefully make more people want to watch it." There is free entry, big screens and themed music over 90 minutes of electric sporting action, all followed by Sunday's Great North Run, a half marathon with 54,000 entrants. "I've never run on a street and this competition is taking athletics to a new level," said Sharman. "It forces it into the public domain because it's so accessible. People can watch me doing the hurdles with a burger in their hands!" On Saturday, each of the 11 events is 'winner takes all', with one point available for victory. | 606: DEBATE |
The England team are eyeing victory at the end of an exhausting World Championship season. Dobriskey, the 1500m world silver medallist, runs alongside 800m world bronze medallist Meadows and Jenny Simpson (who incidentally starred in an episode of Neighbours in 2006 after the Melbourne Commonwealth Games). Do the opposition have the fighting spirit of their cricket skipper Ricky Ponting? | GREAT NORTH CITY GAMES EVENTS 60m, 150m, 100/110m hurdles - Gateshead quayside Pole vault, shot put, long jump - Newcastle quayside One and two mile - Newcastle and Gateshead quayside |
"I've spoken to the Australians and they are well up for it. They're not coming here for a holiday," Graffin added. However, with injury ruling out world pole vault champion Steve Hooker, hurdler Sally McLellan and world long jump bronze medallist Mitchell Watt, Athletics Australia president Rob Fildes is thinking more long-term for Ashes success. "It's looking good for England to knock us off but it will be an annual event until 2012. It will be a very different event next year," the former Aussie Rules footballer and decathlete said, after expressing his congratulations for England's Ashes cricket win through gritted teeth. | AUSTRALIA STARS 60m - Anthony Alozie 60m/150m - Matt Davies 150m - Sean Wroe Mile - Collis Birmingham Shot put - Scott Martin Mile - Selma Kajan Two miles - Benita Willis |
"But we love England, the competition and the rivalry. We love to rib you and you ribbing us. Whether it's cricket or athletics, when the competition is all over we have a wonderful fondness." The 90 minutes of athletics action will all be followed by 14 BBC cameras, two motorbike cameras, a camera tracking system and a helicopter. BBC Sport's executive producer Martin Webster said: "This will be the first multi-discipline athletics event of its kind and it's extremely exciting to be involved in perhaps the beginning of something which will transform the sport. "Street athletics is here to stay."
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