Quality Field Assembled For Great Birmingham 10K
The Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10k will boast a quality elite line-up for the live televised event.
The 10k, now in its fourth year, takes place on Sunday 6 May, and will once again be broadcast on Channel 5.
Event organisers The Great Run Company have assembled a top-quality field with runners recruited from Commonwealth nations ahead of the event which takes place in the city centre, to celebrate the city's status as host city of the 2022 Games.
The elite men's race will take on a distinctly Commonwealth flavour with Moses Kipsiro the main attraction. Three-time Commonwealth champion Kipsiro lines up against England's Andy Vernon who represented his country on the Gold Coast earlier this month, while veteran Frenchman Bob Tahri will also be expected amongst the frontrunners.
In the women's race, Katrina Wootton will lead the British charge against the Italian 10K champion Fatna Maraqui and Polish national 5K champion Aleksandra Lisowska on the new-look 10K course.
Ugandan Kipsiro has a golden touch when it comes to Commonwealth Games host cities, winning the Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run half marathon shortly after taking 10,000m gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 31-year-old took gold twice in Delhi 2010, adding to his 2007 bronze medal over 5,000m in the 2007 World Championships in Osaka.
Vernon is fresh from representing England over 10,000m on the Gold Coast. England's sole representative over the distance, Vernon finished a respectable ninth.
The 32-year-old knows what it is like to have won in Birmingham, having taken victory over the half marathon distance at the Simplyhealth Great Birmingham Run in 2016.
Tahri, meanwhile, has represented France over the 3000m steeplechase distance and has taken medals on the World and European stage. The 39-year-old has a 27.31 personal best over the 10K distance, however, and will be in contention in Birmingham.
Wootton was first British female over the line last year and the Coventry-based athlete will surely have her eyes on the prize this time around.
The Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10K will also host the England Age Group Masters contest with runners setting off just after the elite men and women.
England Athletics launched the initiative with eligible runners representing the V35 through to V75 age groups in Birmingham, wearing a specially designed England masters vest to compete over the 10K distance.
The Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10K starts on Jennens Road in the city centre before taking in sights such as the Selfridges building, Cannon Hill Park and Edgbaston Stadium.
Some 7,000 people are expected to sign up for the May 6 event.
The action is televised live on Channel 5, with coverage from 10am-12.00.
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