THE biggest sponsored walk in the country is this year to be held in Darlington, it has been announced.

The Great North Walk is to be held in the borough for the first time, after being staged at various venues around the North-East since it was set up in 1988. For the past two years, it has been held in the Wear Valley.

The event - one of the main attractions in the regional and national sporting calendar - will be held in July, although the exact date and route have yet to be finalised.

Thousands of entrants of all ages take part each year.

Last night, the new venue was welcomed by organisers and Darlington's MP Alan Milburn, who hailed it as being "great news for the whole borough".

The Great North Walk is a key element in The Northern Echo's A Chance to Live campaign, which runs in partnership with Wear Valley Council, Durham Dales Primary Care Trust and Northumbrian Water.

The newspaper has been commended for its coverage of the event, and won the title for the best event organised by a publisher at this week's national Newspaper Society awards.

One of the event's organisers is sports marketing company Nova International, managed by former Olympic athlete Brendan Foster.

Nigel Gough, operations director at Nova, told The Northern Echo they were delighted the event was to be held in Darlington.

"The location of the event changes year on year - it's not like the Great North Run, where participants follow the same route to beat their personal best time. Walkers want to see different sites and scenery," he said. "It has moved all over the North-East to different venues, and we wanted to give Darlington the opportunity.

"Although not all the arrangements are finalised yet, we are taking active steps to get everything in place."

A spokeswoman for Mr Milburn said he was absolutely thrilled that the event was coming to Darlington.

"It is a hugely successful event, and plays such an important part in getting the message across about the importance of exercise," she said.

"We are all looking forward to it coming to Darlington in July."

Darlington Borough Council, which will be supporting the event, also welcomed the announcement.

A spokeswoman said: "We are delighted to be able to help host the Great North Walk, and we are confident it will be a great success."