Craig Pickering ran in the 2007 Golden Series

The 11-man Scottish international athletics squad are to be part of the 2008 Fortis Golden Series on 14 May.

The Scots will compete in sprint and 4x400m relays against their Welsh counterparts and Guernsey athletes.

"I'm so pleased to see that the Scots have committed to sending such a strong squad," said organiser Rob Batiste.

"It could not have been much stronger, the only real notable absentee being their 100m man Nick Smith, who is away warm-weather training."

Batiste is expecting an exciting array of sprinting talent at the first of the summer meetings, with nine of the Scots due to compete over 100m or 200m in addition to the relays, and Wales expected to bring a strong team.

"We are still finalising the English contingent but even without Craig Pickering, who apparently is required for national sprint relay squad practice the day after our event, we will have approaching a dozen men with sub-11 second times here. The depth will be fantastic," said Batiste.

2007 Golden Series Craig Pickering broke the all-comers record for the 100m in a time of 10.4 seconds Dale Garland took the 400m all-comers record with a time of 46.5 seconds Lee Merrien broke a 45-year-old Guernsey record with his two mile run in 8:46.8

In addition, Guernsey stars Dale Garland, Lee Merrien and Tom Druce will be facing tough early-season tests.

Garland and Druce are set to clash over 400m, while Merrien will compete over two miles, the distance which he outstripped Somalian Moumin Geele in the thrilling climax to the first of Golden Series events in 2007.

"We've still got work to do to finalise the line-ups but the meeting is destined to be of a far higher overall standard than last summer's and the unofficial international relays will be an exhilarating finish to a night when sprinting is very much the order of the day," said Batiste.

"It's our intention to steadily raise the standard of these track and field meetings and I'm confident our 2008 line-up won't disappoint. We are going to see some very quick men here, not just in one event, but a series of them."

The Fortis Golden Series will take place at Footes Lane on Wednesday 14 May from 1900-2100 BST.