Almost 900 athletes will compete in tomorrow’s Telford Electric Magic Mile at the National Sports Centre, including many of the top competitors from last month’s KPMG Front Street Mile.

Racing starts at 12pm with the four and five-year-olds running over a ¼-mile distance, while the six and seven-year-olds will do a ½-mile.

Those aged eight and older will run the mile, which takes place in the Arboretum.

“We didn’t make the 1,000 mark again, but we’re just short of 900 entries,” Cal Simons, the race director, said.

“The eight to nine boys have attracted just over 100 and they go out to the Arboretum. In the four-year-old girls we have 50 entries and 60 for the four-year-old boys.

“In the five-year-old girls there are 52 entries and 80 in the five-year-old boys.”

The numbers are high for each age group with 50 six-year-old girls and 80 six-year-old boys registered, while there are 40 and 65 for the seven-year-old girls and boys.

Supporting the 100 boys in the eight to nine age group are 71 girls, while the 10 to 11 girls and boys are 42 and 48.

There are also about 40 runners in the 12 to 15 races where Ashley Irby will compete against Selah Tuzo, Jessie Marshall and Jessica Bruton. The boys race will include Ryan Outerbridge, Trent Harris and Miles Smith.

Tuzo, of Saltus Grammar School, was the under-13 girls’ winners at the cross-country while Outerbridge of Clearwater Middle School took the over-13 boys’ schools title.

“Race numbers should be picked up at the [NSC] cricket pavilion between 8.30am and 11am,” Simons said. No entries will be accepted on race day.

Flora Duffy, the Bermuda triathlete, competed in the Telford Electric Magic Mile during their early years. Two of her records still stand, one set in 1997 and the other in 2000 when she recorded times of 7min 23sec and 7:05.

There will be a special $200 award for the pre-school, primary, middle and senior schools with the most athletes completing the race.