DEAN Macey‘s 11-year record at Hexham looks set to tumble as a couple of Czech competitors will head to the town.

International decathletes Adam Halcelet and Marek Lukas will be at the Wentworth Leisure Centre next weekend for the EPA International Combined Events over July 25 and 26.

And they both have Olympian Macey’s meeting record of 7842 points, recorded in 2004, in sight as they push for the required 8075 which would book their place in the IAAF World Championships in Beijing next month.

Halcelet, who was fifth in the World Indoor Championships, has already exceeded the score by 200 points in 2013, while his compatriot made 7892 in June of this year.

The two Czech competitors will top the world class field in Hexham, with New Zealand‘s Brent Newdick expected to head to Tynedale too.

Event organiser Richard Hunter, on behalf of Team Decathlon, said: “We all know how special Dean Macey’s record in Hexham is, but I think one, if not both, will break it and hopefully qualify for the world championships.

“We always put the meeting on in mid-July to appeal to athletes who didn‘t get the qualification earlier in the season, and that is why the standard is so high.”

Among the ladies competing for the heptathlon title is pre-meeting favourite Beatrice Puiu, of Romania.

And Great Britain’s Jess Taylor, who won bronze for England at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, is a possibility too.

To add extra interest in the meeting, Hexham will host the home countries international match for the first time since 2006.

Held in Manchester last year, England will provide two teams of eight athletes (four men and four women) as they look to continue their dominance over their counterparts from Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The teams are still to be finalised.

Hunter said: “The home countries is the next level with the leading juniors from each country going head-to-head.

”It‘s like the British Championships for combined events if such a thing existed, and it keeps Hexham on the map as the main meeting in the UK.”