An athletics club is set to host its biggest-ever meeting in Bury this weekend.
The British Milers Club will be at Bury Athletics Club on Market Street on Saturday, August 10 for the biggest meeting in its history with more than 400 attendees expected.
The BMC Grand Prix series is part of the World Athletics Challenger Series which ensures some of the finest runners from Europe, America and beyond, some who may have just missed selection for the Olympics 2024, will be racing at the Bury track.
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Organiser Steve Green said: “We have had entries close to 400 which for the final Grand Prix meeting of the year is unheard of.
“It is great as this is the first time that Bury has hosted a Grand Prix so the response has been amazing. Also, around a quarter of the field is international as well so that brings extra quality.”
“The British Milers Club is all about improving standards in this country and the presence of international runners is undoubtedly helping that,” he added.
“When I last counted, we had around 30 counties represented which is brilliant.”
The women’s 800m features Annemarie Nisse who is a top athlete from Denmark.
She trains with Trevor Painter’s group, which includes GB's 800m runner and Olympic gold medal winner Keely Hodgkinson, at Leigh and is looking to go under two minutes.
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Mr Green added: “We also have a couple of other decent overseas runners and a strong British contingent including Khahisa Mhlanga and Shaikira King, who is still a teenager, so I think it is an outstanding field.
“Bury has been incredibly welcoming to the BMC and really super hosts.
“We hope plenty of people will turn up to watch the meeting and we are encouraging them to bring their own tables and chairs to line the home straight and create a great atmosphere for the runners.”
The meeting will start at 4.15pm and take place for five hours. It will include multiple races for men and women at 1500m, 5000m and 3000m steeplechase, plus some extra races over 400m hurdles at the start of the meeting.
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