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Elite sportsmen and women Amy Williams, Kelly Sotherton, Phillips Idowu and Christian Malcolm are among the top names in British sport who are encouraging a selection of the finest young athletes in Britain to taste glory in CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's landmark new sports series Ultimate Sports Day (tx New Year, 2012).

Transmitting in the run-up to London 2012, this 11x30-minute series is filmed at Scotland's state-of-the-art Ravenscraig sports centre, and will see four teams of four young athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run, jump, shoot, paddle and ride their way to become the Ultimate Sports Day champions.

Hosted by Ore Oduba (Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport and CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Newsround presenter), each episode will test the teams' sports skills through a series of specially devised "Ultimate Events" such as the breathtaking Skywalker and the bouncy Bungee Basketball.

Sourced with the help of the Youth Sports Trust, the young athletes' stories will have their progress followed from their first sports trial through to the two finals and the crowning of the winning team.

All four teams will be mentored by some of Britain's biggest sporting stars: decathlete Dean Macey for the England team; seven times British Champion Ice Dancer Sinead Kerr for Scotland; Team GB sprinter Christian Malcolm will be flying the flag for Wales; while Northern Ireland are being led by former World Featherweight Boxing Champion Barry McGuigan. The mentors and the contestants will all be competing under the watchful eye of top sports professor and trainer Greg Whyte – who guided Eddie Izzard and David Walliams in their running and swimming marathons for Sport Relief.

As well as the mentors, the series will feature a host of top sports talent including Team GB Olympian Triple Jumper Phillips Idowu, current men's gymnastics star Louis Smith, former Team GB heptathlete and current 400 metres runner Kelly Sotherton and Winter Olympics gold medalist Amy Williams.

Ore Oduba says: "Ultimate Sports Day is a wonderful opportunity for elite sports stars to help and showcase young people in sport.

"This is about celebrating young sports stars and testing their mettle to see what it takes to be the best. These competitors are some of the finest young athletes the nation has to offer but it's not just about their sporting ability. The challenges are designed to test their minds and temperaments as well as their ability to work as a team to see if they have what it takes to taste Olympic glory in the future."

Ultimate Sports Day is currently in production in Scotland and will premiere on CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ early 2012 – to coincide with the run-up to the Olympics. Executive producers for the series are Steven Andrew and Simon Parsons for The Foundation and Kez Margrie for CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ. Ultimate Sports Day is created by Jonathan Marks from MTC (UK) Ltd and the series producer is Steve Pinhay for The Foundation.

Ultimate Sports Day is produced by The Foundation Scotland, part of Zodiak Media Group for CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ. Zodiak Kids holds worldwide rights to the series.

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