LYNSEY Sharp is preparing to face fellow Scottish Commonwealth Games heroine Eilidh Child and reigning world 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu in a novel 500m race in the Great North CityGames on the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside.

The event, which will be run partly on road and partly on track, brings together world-class British athletes from three specialist disciplines: 800m, 400m hurdles and 400m flat.

"It's just a unique opportunity to be able to run a 500m race," said Sharp, the Edinburgh AC athlete who won 800m silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and at the European Championships in Zurich.

"It'll be interesting to see how it all works out: 400m runners and 400m hurdlers versus 800m runners. It's the kind of distance that will have people wondering which type of athlete is best suited."

Former European indoor 800m champion Jenny Meadows is also in the field, together with Ohuruogu, who regained the world 400m title in Moscow last summer, and Child, the Scot who has won Commonwealth silver and European gold in the 400m hurdles this summer.

In the battle of the Scots, the record books show that Sharp has a personal score to settle. She was beaten by Child in a low-key 400m race at Bedford in 2008 and over the same distance at the 2012 British Universities' Championships.

But Sharp said: "I'm just looking forward to the meeting because I've never run in a street race before. When I heard there was a 500m race on the programme this year, there was no way I was going to miss it."

The Dumfries-born athlete is so keen to make her CityGames debut she will fly straight into Newcastle from Brussels after racing in the final Diamond League meeting of the season on Friday September 5.

"I just want to go out and enjoy my last few races of the season: Brussels, the Great North CityGames and the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakesh," said Sharp.

The Great North CityGames race will take place on Saturday September 6.