A look ahead to Sunday’s 10km road race, which also features Commonwealth champion Moses Kipsiro
The Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10k has a Commonwealth flavour ahead of the event on Sunday (May 6).
Now in its fourth year, the race will once again be broadcast on Channel 5 from 10am, and organisers have recruited some top-quality athletes from Commonwealth nations to celebrate the city’s status as host city of the 2022 Games.
Moses Kipsiro, a three-time Commonwealth gold medallist from Uganda, lines up against England’s Andy Vernon, who represented his country on the Gold Coast last month.
Veteran Frenchman Bob Tahri is also expected among the frontrunners.
In the women’s race, Katrina Wootton will be among those going for victory on the new-look 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 bronze over 5000m in the IAAF World Championships in 2007.
Vernon is fresh from representing England over 10,000m in Australia. The nation’s sole representative over the distance, he 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 at the Simplyhealth Great Birmingham Run in 2016 (pictured).
Wootton was first British female over the line last year and the Coventry-based athlete – who was Britain’s fastest 10,000m woman on the track in 2017 – will surely have her eyes on the prize this time.
Ireland’s Shona Heaslip and Scotland’s Luke Traynor are also among the athletes set to race.
The event will host the England age group masters contest with runners setting off shortly after the elite men and women.
» See greatrun.org/great-birmingham-10k
