All queries to be sent to Bill Foster (billfosterlsac@hotmail.com)
Timetable for the meeting can be found HERE
Start Lists for the meeting can be found HERE
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There is a charge for parking on the University campus. You will need to ensure you have paid as indicated on the clear signage in each car park. Please make sure to park only in designated spaces. Any questions must be directed to the Loughborough University parking office or APCOA who provide the car park management.
BRITISH MILERS CLUB PRESS RELEASE
THE third adidas/Sportsshoes.com British Milers Club Grand Prix of the season at Loughborough University on Saturday is shaping up to be another red-hot event – in all senses of the word!
“The forecast is that it will be another very warm day and while that won’t affect the 800m and 1500m runners we have switched the 3000m races to 8.30pm to give them cooler conditions,” said meeting director Bill Foster.
“We have a really strong field for the 3k and I’m hoping it will be won under 7minutes 50secs in the A race.”
BMC Grand Prix director Tim Brennan is hoping that the conditions at Loughborough will match those that the athletes enjoyed at St Mary’s, west London, on Wednesday evening for the Record Breaker meeting with its 105 personal bests from 174 runners in 19 races – an outstanding success ratio of 60 per cent.
“We see runners going overseas for fast races and it ends up being terrible weather so it is not the case that the UK is always a wet, windy place to race!” said Brennan.
“I think there is a mis-perception that Europe has a unique climate but if the weather at Loughborough is anything like it was at St Mary’s on Wednesday then you have to cash in on the occasion.
“Let’s hope the weather Gods shine on us again!”
Reece Sharman-Newell enjoyed himself on Wednesday so much he is back again leading the line-up for the men’s 800m A race.
In his first race of the summer back on home soil Sharman-Newell, who is studying at CSU-Pueblo in America, clocked a season’s best of 1:46.33 to win at St Mary’s.
That time puts his 12th on the current UK Rankings so he will be looking to push on from that and get closer to his PB of 1:45.12 as competition for the UK Championships hots up.
And let’s not forget that Sharman-Newell set that PB when winning the Loughborough GP a year ago, backing up his win (1:45.49) in 2023 as well, so the track is a happy, sunny place for him.
On current form U23 runner David Race is the fastest man in the field after his lifetime best of 1:45.68 to finish runner-up in the Grand Prix/World Athletics Challenger meeting at Birmingham University two weeks ago.
Race was fifth at St Mary’s so will be looking to bounce back from that and show that he is a genuine contender for selection for the European U23 Championships. Currently he is the fourth fastest in the UK U23 Rankings.
Other U23 runners in the field include Elliot Savage, who was fourth at St Mary’s, Harry Ross-Hughes and Jamie Phillips plus Austrian Elias Lachkovics, while three of the top 10 fastest U20s are also entered.
Jalian Sohna ran his PB of 1:48.74, just creeping inside the European Championships qualifying standard of 1:49.0, at the Birmingham GP to put him sixth fastest in the UK. Jack Kinrade (1:49.30) and Caleb McLeod (1:49.33) are ranked seventh and eighth and will both be looking to beat that 1:49.0 target.
GB junior international Ava Lloyd, who is now a first year U23, is among the entries for the women’s 800m. Lloyd ran a PB of 4:07.45 for 1500m last month and will certainly want to better her season’s best of 2:07.09 set two weeks ago in Germany and get close to her lifetime best of 2:03.56 set when winning the Birmingham University GP last year.
Ireland’s Alex O’Neill is a threat having shown good form to finish fourth at Birmingham and then clocking a lifetime best of 2:02.50 to win the BMC Record Breaker meeting at Belfast the following week.
There are also two other fine overseas runners entered in Berdine Castillo Lillo of Chile and Australian Rebekah Newton. Mollie Grant, who is top of the UK U17 Rankings after her sizzling PB of 2:04.48 at the Birmingham Uni GP, is also in the field.
“We have some very talented U20 runners entered which is very exciting and I’m sure they will all be looking for fast times whether in the 800m, 1500m or 3000m,” added Foster.
William Rabjohns is certainly one of those. Already No 1 in the UK U20 800m Rankings (1:46.98, Birmingham Uni GP) Rabjohns is also No 2 in the 1500m after his PB of 3:41.96 in Belgium last month.
Both of those times are inside the European U20 qualifying standards so maybe Rabjohns will have his eye on current No 1 Zachary Dunn, who ran a PB 3:41.25 at St Mary’s on Wednesday.
Fastest British runner in the field on form is Ryan Martin, who clipped a second off his PB with 3:37.14 to finish third at St Mary’s – and crucially inside the European U23s qualifying target of 3:38.00.
There are a bunch of good Australian runners, an American and Ireland’s Lugdaidh Mallon also in the field to add some extra spice.
“It is good to see so many overseas runners coming up to Loughborough with particularly strong support from the Australians who are now over in Europe racing,” added Foster.
Holly Dixon is among the leading contenders in the women’s 1500m after her PB of 4:12.98 at the Birmingham Uni GP and she is targeting a sub 4:10.
Junior Isla McGowan didn’t finish far behind Dixon that evening (4:15.78) and will have her sights now on her 2024 PB of 4:14.78 to improve her standing in one of the most hotly contested age group events in the country at present.
There are also another eight runners in the U23/20 age groups among the starters in what looks like a wide-open race.
Foster has already referred to the 3000m and with BMC record holder Aron Gebremariam in the field it could be an explosive race.
Gebremariam set that U20s record of 7:52.54 at Birmingham Uni last year and the Birchfield Harrier will certainly be a contender for that sub 7:50 group. In this year’s Birmingham Grand Prix Gebremariam bagged the BMC members U20 record as well with 13:36.71
There are a number of sub eight minute runners in the field including the Ireland pair of Eferm Gidey (7:58.11) and Sean Tobin (7:51.39), in-form M35 veteran Harry Wakefield (7:56.18), James Young (7:54.24) and Australian U23 runner Jhye Hadfield (7:57.60).
The fastest runner in an equally competitive women’s 3000m field is Courtney Hufsmith of Canada, although her PB of 9:08.74 was set a few years ago.
Zoe Gilbody might have one eye on the European U20s having run the qualifying standard of 9:25.0 with a PB of 9:21.57 at Loughborough last month, putting her fifth on the UK U20 Rankings. Kitty Scott, No 2 on the UK U17 Rankings with 9:28.22, is another young athlete to watch out for in the race.
“I think there are a lot of juniors still deciding whether to run the 5000m or the 3000m at the trials so having a good quality 3000m race at Loughborough will be very useful for them in particular,” said Brennan.
The meeting starts with the women’s 800m B race at 5pm with the 29th and final race, the men’s 3000m, at 8.50 – and an action-packed timetable in-between.
It should be a perfect evening for spectators, too, so pay on the gate to come along, watch and support on what should be a fabulous evening of athletics.
