PARALYMPIC track stars Jade Jones and Jamie Carter will compete at the Jedburgh Running Festival later this month.
Jones, who is only 16, missed out on a place in the T54 800m final in London by two-thousandths of a second.
But she is expected to go close in the Jedburgh 10km wheelchair championships on October 28.
Jamie Carter, who did reach the T34 200m final at the Paralympics, will be the one to beat in the men’s race.
The 18-year-old cerebal palsy athlete will face around a dozen other competitors at Jedburgh.
Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, who is one of GB’s most successful Paralympians of all time, will come out of retirement to also compete in Jedburgh.
The wheelchair event looks set to be as competitive as ever and perhaps even larger in numbers. The race starts shortly after 10am from Bonjedward and will again have two elements to the race, the hand bike 10km and the wheelchair 10km. The hand bikes are becoming increasingly common, but are also faster in general to the wheelchairs, hence the need to introduce the two categories.
Jed Rennilson, who organises both races, said: “We’re delighted that we have Jade and Jamie coming as well as Tanni.
“The Jedburgh races are amongst the best in Scotland and it’s tremendous we have such big names coming.”
The 10th Jedburgh Running Festival is projected to attract a record entry of close to 1,500 athletes for its half marathon, 10km, paralympic events and, new for this year, a 38-mile ultra marathon.
And the organisers have also been boosted by sponsorship from local tool-making company, Starrett.
Len Wyse from the Jedburgh Running Festival said: “We are delighted that Starrett’s have backed this year’s festival.
“Our half marathon and 10km are attracting excellent entries this year and with more than two weeks still to go we expect to break our previous records.
“Our wheelchair and hand-cycle races have attracted some stars from London Paralympics, and we have around 100 endurance runners coming to take part in our Three Peaks ultra marathon.
“We are confident that this year’s festival will be the biggest and best yet.”
The big news for the 10th anniversary year is the addition of the ultra marathon to the events on offer on Sunday, October 28.
This now means that on the day the following events will take place: 8am, ultra marathon (38 miles) starting at the abbey; 10am, wheelchair and hand bike 10km, starting from Bonjedward; 11am, half marathon and 10km, starting at the abbey.
Entries for all races close on Wednesday, October 24.
Further details are available on www.jedburghhalfmarathon.org.uk/