Newcastle will go up against seven other cities in an innovative new sprint rowing competition and will proudly represent the north east according to Olympic silver medallist Jessica Eddie.

Durham-born Eddie, a veteran of three Olympics, has been chosen as a City Champion for Newcastle in July’s upcoming Power8 Sprints competition to be held in Bristol.

Eddie has spent the majority of her career competing in an eight-woman crew, the boat that has been selected for the new competition which sees both male and female crews compete for their city, head to head in a knock-out tournament over a 350m course.

“We’re all representing a different city each and I’m lucky enough to represent a city close to my heart – Newcastle,” said Eddie, who won silver in the women’s eights at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“It’s close to my heart because I used to train on the Tyne, I spent a long time training on that hard bit of water and I know it well.

“I got involved with Power8 Sprints because British Rowing couldn’t get away from the fact that I’m a northerner and I wax lyrical about the north east whenever I can!

“When this came up I jumped at the opportunity to take part and represent my region.

“I’m really pleased to be an ambassador for Newcastle, it’s a city that I’m very fond of, I’m a big Newcastle United fan so I hoped I’d be wearing black and white but I hear our colour’s blue?! I might have to paint my nails or something to get the city colours in there!”

The inaugural Power8 Sprints race will be held at Bristol Harbour on Sunday July 22, with Newcastle, Manchester, Nottingham, Exeter, Bristol, Oxford, Cambridge and London all facing off against each other.

Supporters will be able to see the action down on Bristol harbourside or watch the event live on BT Sport.

Eddie added: “The Power8 Sprints is a lot shorter than Olympic distance – 350m – so it’s a lot punchier, it’s going to be over almost before it starts.

“There’s men’s eights and women’s eights each representing cities across the UK and it’s going to be knockout.

“If you make a slight mistake the other crew can really take you down and win the race, knocked out and on to the bank for that crew!

“It’s an exciting and new event for rowing and it’ll be great to watch from the sides, see the race from start to finish, so hopefully everyone will come down to Bristol in July.”

Jessica Eddie is a City Champion for Newcastle’s Power8 Sprints rowing crew, who will be competing at the inaugural event on July 22 as the headline act on the water at the Bristol Harbour Festival. To find out how you can get involved, visit www.power8sprints.com