POSTED: Thursday May 21st 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SKY SPORTS COVERAGE FOR SUPER8

UKA’s inaugural Super8 competition at the Cardiff International Athletics Stadium

Sky Sports have confirmed that they will cover UKA’s inaugural Super8 competition at the Cardiff International Athletics Stadium.  The exciting two-hour City versus City athletics match is being piloted in the Welsh capital on 10 June and several leading British athletes have confirmed their participation.

The host city Cardiff will be hoping to be inspired by a big home crowd as they take on all-star teams from London North, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, London South, Glasgow and Sheffield on Wednesday 10 June.

Confirmed names for Super8 already include Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist Tasha Danvers who will captain London South, UK Indoor 800m champion Jenny Meadows who will captain Manchester and Olympic 800m semi-finallist Marilyn Okoro, who will compete for London North. More big names will be announced in the coming days.

All the action from Cardiff will be shown on Sky Sports 2 on Friday 12 June at 6.30pm- with repeats on Sky Sports Xtra at 11pm and Sky Sports Xtra on Saturday 13 June at 8.00am- repeated at 1pm.

Niels de Vos, Chief Executive of UKA and one of the driving forces behind the innovative event said: “It’s great news that Sky Sports have recognised the huge potential of Super8 athletics as a television spectacle. It is a fan-friendly format and we can guarantee the crowd on the night and viewers  superb entertainment.” 

Tickets are now on sale at £5 (seating) or £3 (standing) for adults, U16s are free, provided they are accompanied by a paying adult. Tickets can be purchased at www.uka.org.uk/super8 or by calling the ticket hotline on 0844 844 0808.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Super8 will consist of 100m, 110mh, 400m, 800m, 1500m, pole vault, high jump, long jump, javelin, shot and medley relays (200,200,400,600). Super 8 will act as the final selection event for the Aviva GB team for the European Team Championships.

From 2010, cities will bid for franchises and will work closely with clubs in their area to produce each team. The Super8 format is one that can work at the highest level of the sport as well as at club and school level. UK cities will be invited to bid for Super 8 franchises and the right to host events. Over the coming years, the aim is that the competition will grow with each team hosting a fixture.

The Super 8 format is also designed to be adopted by schools where the curriculum makes the staging of a full scale athletics matches increasingly difficult. The two-hour format of Super 8 could be adopted for inter-class or inter-school competitions with boys and girls competing together in the same team.

The pilot event in Cardiff will be preceded by a Super 8 schools pilot on the same day.  

UKA is the National Governing Body of the premier Olympic and Paralympic sport. We aspire to be a world leading sporting organisation delivering clear and inspirational leadership for athletics to ensure a vibrant and empowered sport at every level that can evolve to meet every challenge. We work with Home Country Federations and other partners to secure and distribute funding and develop policies for key areas and implementation at the appropriate levels, giving support and strategic guidance.

For more information visit www.uka.org.uk

 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Chris Broadbent, Media Manager
M:           07701 099763
E:            cbroadbent@uka.org.uk

Emma Pickles, Media Officer
T:            0121 713 8405
M:           07920 078543
E:            epickles@uka.org.uk

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Keywords · UK Athletics · Super8 competition · Cardiff International Athletics Stadium · SKY Sports

Name: Chris Broadbent
Organization: UK Athletics
Email:
Phone: +44.7701.099763

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