Sir Mo Farah and Laura Muir headline amazing weekend of running at Vitality Westminster Mile and London 10000
Sir Mo Farah will face Andy Butchart in Vitality London 10000 and Steph Twell defends title in women’s race. Laura Muir takes on Melissa Courtney in Vitality Westminster Mile and Chris O’Hare aims for first sub-four minute clocking.
Sir Mo Farah and Laura Muir will be the star attractions at the Vitality Westminster Mile and Vitality London 10000 weekend on Sunday 26 May and Monday 27 May.
Farah (handicap -8.1), fresh off his fifth place at the 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon, will be looking for his sixth victory at the Vitality London 10000 on Monday 27 May after previous wins in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2018.
But he will face stiff competition from two-time previous winner Andy Butchart (handicap -6.2) who, after a 2018 ruined by injury, has returned to competitive action in fine fashion this year. The Scottish athlete, who was sixth in the 5000m at the 2016 Olympics, ran a World Championships qualifying time of 13:18:16 for 5000m in the USA earlier this month.
Farah and Butchart will line up with a strong domestic field that includes six men who have run sub 29 minutes including Nick Goolab (handicap -6.0) - the fastest man over the distance in the UK this year (28:22).
The women’s race also has a loaded domestic field that includes three former winners: defending champion Steph Twell, 2016 victor Lily Partridge and Gemma Steel who won in 2014.
Charlotte Arter, the reigning British 10000m champion on the track, and Tish Jones, who was the second British woman home at the Virgin Money London Marathon and qualified for the World Championships, are also racing, as are three of the six-strong team that Great Britain sent to the World Cross-Country Championships in March: Kate Avery, Jennifer Nesbitt and Jess Piasecki.
The Vitality London 10000 takes place on Monday 27 May – the day after the Vitality Westminster Mile where Laura Muir will be starting a summer season which she hopes will end in glory at the World Championships in Doha.
Multiple European champion Muir (handicap -2.5) leads the entrants in a star-studded elite women’s field in the Vitality Westminster Mile. Defending champion Melissa Courtney (handicap -2.5), the Commonwealth Games 1500m bronze medallist, is back again as is 2017 champion Adelle Tracey.
European Indoor Championships 800m gold medallist Shelayna Oskan-Clarke (handicap -2.5) will make her debut in the event while Sarah McDonald (handicap -2.5), who won the Vitality Westminster Mile in 2016 and was runner-up a year later, returns to the streets of central London.
In the men’s race, defending champion Chris O’Hare (handicap -6.1) is hoping to become the first man in the history of the Vitality Westminster Mile to break the four-minute barrier.
O’Hare, who won a bronze medal over 3000m at the European Indoor Championships in March, is aiming to break the mark and win the Bannister Trophy just weeks after the 65th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s first sub-four minute mile.
O’Hare will face competition from rising star Jake Heyward (handicap -4.8), who was fourth in the 1500m at last year’s World Junior Championships, and three-time British 800m champion Elliot Giles (handicap -5.2). Jamie Webb (handicap -5.8), who won a bronze medal in the 800m at this year’s European Indoor Championships, and the current course record holder Nick Goolab (handicap -6.0), who ran 4:01 to win in 2016, will also be on the start line.
Sir Mo Farah (handicap -8.1) will also be at the Vitality Westminster Mile - but not racing. He will be cheering on runners in the family events with some lucky entrants getting the amazing chance to run alongside the four-time Olympic champion and six-time world champion.
The Vitality Westminster Mile is the world’s biggest timed mile event with races for all ages and abilities, from families to adults, schools, wheelchairs, Masters and Olympians. The under-13, under-15, under-17, under-20 and senior races are also the British One Mile Road Championships. Entry for children aged 11 and under is free. Entry for adults is £8 and for children between 12 and 18, entry is £6 with a £1 reduction for Westminster residents. To enter, click here.
A record number of more than 17,000 participants are expected to run the Vitality London 10000 on a course which passes iconic London landmarks such as Admiralty Arch, Nelson’s Column, St Paul’s Cathedral, Mansion House, the Bank of England, the Old Bailey, Somerset House, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
The Vitality London 10,000 also incorporates the British Athletics 10km Championships for men and women.
Entry to the Vitality London 10,000 costs £35 (£33 for members of a UK affiliated running club). To enter click here.
Entries close at 17:00 on Friday 17 May.
For full start lists for the Vitality Westminster Mile click here and for the Vitality London 10000 click here.