Combined event gets bigger.

HEXHAM'S UK Combined Events Challenge meeting goes from strength to strength and this year's promotion on July 18-19 promises to be bigger and better.

The Northumberland market town will once again be host to international athletes chasing qualification for the World Championships, which will be held in Berlin five weeks later.

Meeting director Richard Hunter has already received enquiries from athletes from Australia, New Zealand, America and Europe and he is confident that once again Hexham will be at the forefront of multievent competition in the UK.

"It's early days yet but already we have confirmed entries from New Zealand duo Sarah Cowley and Rebecca Wardell, both of whom competed in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne," said Hunter.

In past Hexham events a number of athletes have gained the qualifying standard for the World Championships and Olympic Games with the most notable being GB's Dean Macey, who squeezed out the requirements for the Athens Olympics in 2004 - in some style though. On his return four years later to the same Tynedale venue, he just couldn't quite repeat that performance in the chase for a place in Beijing.

Sadly, that was the last decathlon the charismatic, injury-prone Macey contested.

"In the men"s decathlon Matt Chisam of the USA, is a confirmed starter," added Hunter "America is strong in the decathlon so Chisam is coming to Europe - he is also competing in a IAAF World Challenge event in Desenzano, Italy - to see if he can improve his overall score." As well as the international event, for the first time, Hunter has slotted into the programme a series of open track and field competitions for senior athletes.

Details of how to enter both the decathlon and heptathlon, and the open events are on the meeting website: www.hexham-meeting.org..