AFRICAN athletes chasing a £1,000 first prize are again expected to dominate tonight's 25th Nike Blaydon Race, even though five-times winner Julius Kimtai is an absentee.

The event - immortalised in the Geordie folk song - has attracted 4,000 runners and even more would have been making their way along the banks of the Tyne on the traditional date if the race organisers had not closed the books weeks ago, reluctantly returning over 1,000 entry forms.

This year's race has been dedicated to the memory of Dr Jim Dewar, who organised the race since its inception in 1981 and died just two days after overseeing last year's event.

The new organising committee had hoped that a local athlete might end the run of African victories, which stretches back to 1999, when Kimtai opened his winning account.

But another glut of UK-based African entries, including last year's runner-up, Wilfred Taragon, suggests that most of the attractive prizes will be going elsewhere.

The favourites will include Taragon and fellow Kenyans John Murithii and Simon Tanui, while Dereje Kebede, of Ethiopia, is also expected to be among the front runners. Murithii won a five-mile race in Scotland at the weekend, while Tanui's recent form includes a victory in the Bath Half Marathon in 62 mins 50 secs.

Redcar-based Stephen Hepples would have been strongly fancied to be the first North-East finisher but the Great Britain international has decided to concentrate on his track work. Now the leading candidates are expected to be Morpeth Harriers Mark Hudspith and Martin Scaife, who had a ding-dong battle for the £500 North-East prize, with Hudspith winning a desperate sprint finish for sixth place, while double North-East cross country champion Neil Wilkinson, also wearing Morpeth colours, should also be among the early finishers.