The former Launceston athlete paid a visit to the Tasmanian Institute of Sport gym earlier in the week and will provide some tough competition for Hobart’s 10km state champion Melanie Daniels. 

The men's open race will likely be fought out between Hobart’s Dejen Gebreselassie and Launceston’s four-time Point to Pinnacle winner Dylan Evans.

Gebreselassie secured 13^th spot in the Gold Coast half-marathon earlier this month, clocking 1:06:18 to finish as the second Tasmanian home behind Douglas Hamerlok, and three minutes behind winner and reigning Launceston Ten champion Jack Rayner.

TIS athletics coach Susan Andrews said the two open races and the battle between Meriem Daoui and Ruby Smee in the under-20 women’s race were shaping up as must-watch events.

“Meriem’s probably the stronger at the moment, but that’ll be a nice race between the two of those (girls), it’ll be interesting to see who comes out the winner,” Andrews said.

“I know those two girls well; Meriem’s a year older and they always have a really good race.”

The first race at Rokeby Police Academy is scheduled to kick off at noon, with the event expected to be wrapped up before 3pm. 

Andrews said the Rokeby course provided a great canvas for cross-country racing and was spectator-friendly.

“It’s a good course, they used it last year for the national all-schools championships, so we had everyone from around Australia come here to compete.

“It’s got quite a flat section, it’s got about a 200m hill in it and it’s really good visibility for spectators.

“It can get a bit windy off the water but otherwise it’s good and it’s close to Hobart so it’s very handy.”

Daoui won last year’s open women’s even in a time of 36:57, with Hamerlok taking out the men’s equivalent in 30:58.