MEGAN KEITH AMONG THOSE WITH EYES ON THE PRIZE AT NIGHT OF 10,000M PBS

The popular Night of 10,000m PBs returns to Highgate in London on Saturday 18 May with several British athletes vying for places on the Olympic team at the Trial events.

If the top two athletes in the Trial races have achieved the World Athletics qualifying standard [30:40.00 women / 27:00.00 men] then they will be automatically nominated for selection in July for the Olympic Games.

Megan Keith (coach: Ross Cairns, club: Inverness) leads the way in the women’s field after going inside the qualifying mark at The Ten race in California back in March when she clocked 30:36.84. The European U23 cross gold medallist needs to finish in the top two in London to guarantee her place on the team for Paris 2024.

Everyone else in the women’s field will be chasing the time and a top two slot which will make it a highly entertaining contest under the lights.

Jess Warner-Judd (Mick Judd, Blackburn) has many wins to her name at the event and will be an athlete many in the field will have a close eye on. A 30:41 10km gun time from Valencia earlier this year left her very close to the standard.

Other British interest in the field includes UK 5km champion Verity Ockenden (Swansea), European cross bronze medallist Abbie Donnelly (Rob Lewis, Lincoln Wellington), European U23 10,000m champion Alice Goodall (Mark Pollard, Edinburgh), and many more.

In the men’s field, although no British athlete currently holds the Paris World Athletics standard, there will be many looking to achieve the feat this Saturday.

Patrick Dever is currently the top ranked in the UK following his 27:08.81 time from The Ten in March. The Preston athlete was 23^rd at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon22, so he will be focused on getting under the 27-minute mark to make the team for Paris.

There is plenty of British interest in the elite men’s with Charles Hicks (Shaftebury Barnet), who holds a PB of 27:33.58 to his name, lining up in London. Zakariya Mahamed (Idris Hamud, Southampton), Rory Leonard (Morpeth) and Scott Beattie (Mike Batemen, Morpeth) have all represented GB & NI over the last 12 months, and join an strong field.

The event gets underway from 14:30 with several 10,000m races building up to the elite races [women – 20:30 / men – 21:25]. There are also four 800m races for U17 and U20 athletes.

The Elite races will be streamed on the BBC Sport website and BBCiPlayer from 20:30 on Saturday 18 May. There will also be live coverage available on the European Athletics website from 14:30. 

Entry lists and results can be found HERE.