Athletes Mentor In Ultimate Sports Day
Elite sport stars Christian Malcolm, Barry McGuigan, Dean Macey and Sinead Kerr are set to encourage a selection of the UK’s finest young athletes to taste sporting glory in CBBC’s new sports series Ultimate Sports Day.
They are joined by Olympians Amy Williams, Phillips Idowu, Louis Smith, Kelly Sotherton and World Junior Champion Harry Aikines-Aryeetey to put the teenagers through their paces and help foster the nation’s future medallists.
The concept, created by MTC (UK) Ltd managing director Jonathan Marks, has a run of 11 episodes and is to air on CBBC on Saturday 28th Jan at 09:00.
‘The rationale for Ultimate Sports Day (USD) was simple’ said Marks. ‘The athlete’s themselves were crying out for a sporting challenge for kids that would inspire and engage in the way that ‘We are the Champions’ had for a generation and we enlisted support from a host of world class athletes to achieve a commission. To launch in 2012 when there are no obvious legacy initiatives on a high profile media platform gives USD a unique opportunity.’
‘The long term aspirations for the show spread into the areas of sports science education and to grow the talent search into a truly national initiative. Providing a unique showcase for the amazing talent who auditioned and competed will undoubtedly inspire more children to want to compete in USD and further themselves in sport when they see their peers on national TV.’
Transmitting in the run-up to London 2012, the 11x30min series is filmed at Scotland’s Ravenscraig sports centre, and sees four teams of four young athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run, jump, shoot and ride their way to become the Ultimate Sports Day champions.
Hosted by CBBC’s Newsround and BBC Sport presenter, Ore Oduba, each episode tests the teams’ sports skills through a series of specially-devised ‘Ultimate Events’ such as the Skywalker and the bouncy Bungee Basketball.
Supported by the Youth Sports Trust, Ultimate Sports Day has assembled some of the nations’ most gifted young sports talent across a range of sports.
Each team is mentored by some of the UK’s biggest sporting stars: decathlete Dean Macey coaches the England team; seven times British Champion Ice Dancer Sinead Kerr mentors Scotland; Team GB Captain, sprinter Christian Malcolm flies the flag for Wales; while Northern Ireland is led by former World Featherweight Boxing Champion Barry McGuigan.
The mentors and the contestants compete under the watchful eye of top sports Professor and trainer Greg Whyte – who guided Eddie Izzard and David Walliams in their running and swimming marathons for Sport Relief.
