All queries to be sent to Luke Gunn (l.s.gunn@bham.ac.uk)
We are pleased to say that wavelights will be used for this meeting
Timetable with wavelight settings for the meeting can be found HERE
Start Lists for the meeting can be found HERE
All other details can be found HERE
Live Streaming and Live results links will be added. Please check back here.
BRITISH MILERS CLUB PRESS RELEASE – BIRMINGHAM UNI GP PREVIEW
RACE director Luke Gunn has already seen a lot in the sport in his capacity as international athlete, coach and meeting organiser but even he couldn’t contain his excitement about the prospects for the second BMC Grand Prix/World Athletics Challenger Tour meeting at Birmingham University on Saturday evening.
“We are looking awesome!” said Gunn.
“We nearly have 500 entries which is stunning and while I don’t know if that is a record it must be one of the biggest Grand Prix meetings ever held.
“So we are absolutely delighted with the interest and it has reached the point where we have every event full and have had to turn some people away.
“I mean we have around 100 men racing 800m and nine men’s 1500m races and five for women. The steeplechase is full with 20 men and 14 in the women’s race.
“We also have two good men’s 5000m and one women’s 5000m despite it being a busy weekend.”
The University track has certainly acquired a burgeoning reputation for fast times, located in a bowl like arena and shielded with trees and add in the slick organisation, top pace-making and very strong competition and you all the ingredients for a top-class meeting.
“I am also pleased that we have had very strong interest from Ireland with around 40 runners making the trip,” added Gunn.
“There are also a lot of U23 and U20 athletes here looking for qualifying standards plus it is also the final chance to qualify for the World University Games as the GB team is being picked on Monday.
“The team for the European Team Championships is also being selected on Monday so some runners will have half an eye on that as well.”
The women’s 800m race looks really enticing and includes an interesting sub plot two members of Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows M11 Coaching Goup on the start line.
Junior Jessica Lark ran a startling PB to win the 1500m at the opening Grand Prix in Bury two weeks ago and that day certainly showed the sort of form that must put her 800m PB of 2:06.21 under threat.
Training partner and British international Ava Lloyd, who recently featured in the BMC newsletter, has had a really good start to the outdoor season twice improving her PB over 1500m to 4:10.17 and then 4:07.45 in Nice last weekend.
Now she is looking to sharpen up over two laps and will have her sights set on her PB of 2:03.56 set last summer – when winning this very same event!
Khahisa Mhlanga is the fastest woman in the field and having been forced to withdraw from Bury will be looking to make a statement
Also in the field is teenager Mollie Grant, who went top of the UK U17 Rankings when clocking her PB of 2:07.18 in a BMC Gold Standard Races meeting at the University last month.
Callum Dodds is the fastest on paper in the men’s 800m field with a PB of 1:44.79 set last year and he has already clocked 1:45.86 this summer.
Fresh from his excellent win at Bury where he ran a lifetime best of 1:47.06 Birmingham University student Ben Gardiner will relish the chance to race on his home track as he looks to get close to his season’s target of 1min 45secs.
Top junior William Rabjohns, the fastest U20 this year so far on 1:47.68 so well inside the UKA Euro qualifying standard of 1:49.0, plus U23 runner David Race are both entered.
Also from Canada are Yassine Aber, who has a 1:47.40 to his name and Zakary Mama-Yari, who ran his best of 1:45.93 last season.
Piers Copeland, who boasts a PB of 1:45.77, will run his first 800m of the summer having opened his outdoor campaign with a 3:37.23 1500m in Los Angeles last month.
There is a very strong U20 presence in the B race with five of the current top seven fastest entered; Tom Waterworth, Jack Organ, Jack Kinrade, James O’Brien and Tobias Cheesbrough on the start line. Then there are a further eight men’s 800m race in addition.
On current form Samuel Charig is the quickest man in the 1500m A race having posted a PB of 3:37.28 in Germany last weekend. The City of Portsmouth runner shaved 0.26secs off the time he ran in Brussels six days earlier to go ninth on the UK Rankings and as a student at Bath University will have a strong claim to being selected for the World University Games last this year.
Also entered are Ryan Martin, who is 12th fastest in the UK this year after his PB of 3:38.23 at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet and Thomas Bridger, who also set a PB of 3:38.97 at Brussels and will relish racing on the track where he spends so much time training.
Again, reflecting the interest in the meeting there is a total of nine men’s 1500m races.
The women’s 1500m A race has a positive youthful look to it with five U20s and two U23s in the 15-strong line-up.
Junior Eleanor Strevens, who is a student at Birmingham, won the 800m in the Bury GP with a PB of 2:05.61 and already has a PB of 4:14.61 from Belfast last month which is well inside the UKA qualifying standard of 4:20.0 for the Europeans.
But then she is just one of eight young women who already have that time to underline the tough competition in this event. Of her U20 rivals Jess Bailey, Isla McGowan and Shakira King are all entered while Evey Powell will be looking to join that sub 4:20 club as well.
Ireland’s Roisin Flanagan and Melina Andorra from Switzerland are also in the field.
In the steeplechase Gunn was particularly pleased to see five juniors and eight U23s entered.
“The target will be to get as many guys under nine minutes as possible to qualify for the UK Championships,” explained Gunn.
To help with that ain he has enlisted the help of Thomas Bridger, who is currently fourth in the UK Rankings with his PB of 8:36.59 making his a strong contender for the European U23s, as the pacemaker.
Ireland’s Roisin Treacy and GB junior Rae Le Fay are among the entries for the women’s race.
The first race is at 5pm with the men’s 5000m B the 34th and final race closing the meeting at 9.05pm. Spectator’ tickets are available on the gate. The meeting will also be using the wavelights technology.
