ORGANISERS of the Virtual Durham City Run Festival have teamed up with Durham University and some of the biggest names in UK athletics for an online sports quiz on Sunday.

‘All Star Question of Sport’ will be broadcast live on Facebook and will see the university’s intercollegiate quiz champions Stephenson College taking on teams led by Paula Radcliffe, Colin Jackson and Jeanette Kwakye.

The Northern Echo:

The event will be chaired by Steve Cram and will start at 6pm on Sunday, July 19, as the finale of the four-day virtual festival.

The Virtual Durham City Run Festival is being organised by Events of the North and is supported by Durham County Council and Durham University.

Taking place from 16-19 July, the festival offers runners the opportunity to ‘race’ at the 10K, 5K or mile distance, with a proportion of each £12.50 entry fee being donated to local charity St. Cuthbert’s Hospice.

The festival also includes a schedule of free online events, with the All Star Question of Sport being the final addition to the programme.

Broadcast live on the Events of the North Facebook page facebook.com/EventsOTN, the quiz will feature four teams.

Durham University’s intercollegiate Question of Sport champions Stephenson College will be challenged by three other teams, led by Steve Cram’s friends from the world of athletics.

Long distance legend Paula Radcliffe will captain one team, former world record holding sprint hurdler Colin Jackson will lead the second, and the third captain will be former Team GB and British champion sprinter Jeannette Kwakye.

The Northern Echo:

They will be joined by Team Durham athletes, along with other Durham University representatives, including Pro-Vice-Chancellor Jeremy Cook, professor and principal of Collingwood College and in the School of Education Joe Elliott, director of Experience Durham Quentin Sloper, dean of Experience Durham Peter Warburton, masters student and former captain of Durham University Women’s Rugby 1st XV Beth Blacklock, an England Academy player, and Durham University geography student and Team GB hockey player Tess Howard.

Steve Cram will host All Star Question of Sport and said: “Online quizzes have become very popular during the last three months, but this one promises to be very special and we’re grateful to Durham University for helping us to arrange it. We’ve lined up some very competitive teams and captains, but it sounds like they’ll all have to be at the top of their games to beat Stephenson College. I’m very grateful to Paula, Jeannette and Colin for agreeing to be part of the event, which will be an exciting and fun way to round off the Virtual Durham City Run Festival.”

Jeremy Cook, pro-vice-chancellor at Durham University, said: “We’re very pleased to be working with such great athletes for this special All Star Question of Sport. The event is a celebration of the potential that sport has to bring people together and a wonderful finale to four days of sport, exercise and events in the Virtual Durham City Run Festival.

“Our intercollegiate champions Stephenson College have proven to be a knowledgeable team, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they fare against sporting greats like Paula Radcliffe, Jeanette Kwakye and Colin Jackson. It promises to be a lot of fun, so we hope many people will join us on Facebook on Sunday.”

For more details and to sign up for Virtual Durham City Run Festival events, visit durhamcityrunfestival.com/virtual.