The Junior Games coincide with the launch of Everyday Sport - a unique campaign designed to help rid the North-East of lazy lifestyles and kick start the fight against rocketing obesity levels.
The campaign was launched last week, and the region was specially selected for this four-month test case as it has some of the lowest levels of participation in physical activity and sport in the country.
Everyday Sport, managed by Sport England, is a Government backed, community supported and celebrity endorsed public awareness campaign. North-East TV stars Jayne Middlemiss and Donna Air, basketball player John Amaechi and TV heart-throb Robson Green, are helping to launch the initiative.
Tim Cantle-Jones, Chair of Sport England's North-East Regional Sports Board, said: "From a walk around the block at lunchtime to cycling into work instead of taking the car or simply taking the stairs instead of the lift - Everyday Sport can be easy.
"Through this campaign we aim to show that you can get active without disrupting today's busy lifestyles and without needing to be a fitness enthusiast.
"We want to empower people to be more active in a way that suits them and their lives."
An Everyday Sport Have-A-Go Fair at Baltic Square, Gateshead Quays, marked the start of four months of Everyday Sport activities across the North-East.
