6th May 2022

BRITISH HOPEFULS HEAD 2022 EMSLEY CARR AND MILLICENT FAWCETT MILE FIELDS

Some of the best upcoming British athletes will be looking to make their mark when the Emsley Carr Mile and Millicent Fawcett mile events take place at the Night of the 10000m PBs in Highgate on Saturday 14 May.

Melissa Courtney-Bryant (Rob Denmark, Poole AC) will be looking to put injury behind her and return to form when she lines up in the Millicent Fawcett Mile. Joining her looking for the first British winner of the event, will be fellow Brits, Ellie Baker (Jon Bigg, Shaftesbury Barnett) and Sabrina Sinha (Bud Baldaro, Cambridge Harriers).

After almost a year away from racing, Courtney-Bryant started her 2022 season strongly last month with third place at the Payton Jordan Invitational 5000m in 15:25.90 which also secured her the Welsh Commonwealth standard. Her 1500m personal best of 4:01.81 from the Stockholm Diamond League in August 2020 places the Commonwealth and European Indoor medallist among the favourites for the race.

European U23 silver medallist, Ellie Baker has also started 2022 well with second at the Payton Jordan Invitational 1500m. She will be wanting to improve on her 1500m PB of 4:06.54 from last summer.

Birmingham University’s 23 year old Sabrina Sinha was third at the BUCS Champs last weekend in 4:14.32, just outside her 2021 PB of 4:14.20. This follows her fourth place at the UK Indoor Championships in February.

For the women who go off first at 8.10pm, the British trio will be joined by the Irish duo, Sarah Healy and Georgie Hartigan. Healy arrives on the back of an impressive fifth place at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March. The 21-year-old and European U20 silver medallist has a world ranking of 20 and a one-mile PB of 4:29.38 from last year.

26-year-old, Hartigan, ran a personal best of 4:09.87 just last month in Philadelphia. She set a national indoor record of 2:40.01 for the 1000m in Birmingham earlier this season.

Georgia Griffith (AUS) has a PB of 4:04.17 from her fifth place at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.  She will be joined by her compatriot, Sarah Billings (AUS) who ran 4:09.73 earlier this year in Melbourne.

Italy’s Federica Del Buono completes the line-up for the Millicent Fawcett Mile, won last year by Kate Grace (USA). The Italian champion and European indoor medallist has a PB of 4:05.32.

Piers Copeland (coach: Bob Smith, club: Pontypridd) and George Mills (Brighton Phoenix) have both made impressive starts to their 2022 campaign and will be hoping to kickstart their outdoor season in the Emsley Carr Mile with three major championships – World, European and Commonwealth Games – to target this summer.

Copeland, who was fifth in the same event last year, secured his first UK Indoor Championship title in the 1500m in February having run a personal best of 3:36.12 at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix the week before. The 23-year-old Welsh indoor record holder was the European Under-23 Championships silver medallist in 2019.

Mills, the 2016 European under-18 champion, also recorded his 3:36.03 best at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix this year. The 22-year-old has an outdoor best of 3:36.31 from Marseille last June. He followed this a month later with fifth place at the European Under 23 Championships in Tallinn.

Joining them will be Charlie Da’Vall Grice and Archie Davis. The former has a mile PB of 3:52.64 ran back in 2016 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene. While his 1500m PB of 3:30.62 from Monaco in 2019 places him sixth on the British all-time rankings. Meanwhile, Davis (Joel Kidger, Brighton Phoenix) was an impressive third in the Emsley Carr Mile in Gateshead last year in a PB of 3:54.27.

Under 23s, Tom Keen (Mark Vile, Cambridge and Coleridge) and Henry McLuckie (Geoff Watkin, Shaftesbury Barnet) complete the British contingent in the race won last year by Elliot Giles. Keen started his outdoor season with sixth at the BUCS championships last weekend in the 800m and the Birmingham University student will want to challenge his 1500m PB of 3:41.34. McLuckie was bronze medallist at the European U20 Championships in Tallinn last year following a great start to his 2021 season with a PB of 3:40.82 at the Manchester Invitational in June.

The highest ranked athlete in the field, Azeddine Habz (FRA) sits at 12th on the world rankings with a 1500m PB of 3:31.74 from Monaco last summer.

Andrew Coscoran (IRL) who was seventh at the European Indoors Championships last year is one of three Irishmen in the field, along with Paul Robinson and Luke McCann. Coscoran, 25, has an outdoor PB of 3:35.66 for 1500m.

Italy’s Ossama Maslek (Philip Townsend, Leeds City), who competed for Loughborough Students at BUCS last weekend, has an indoor PB of 3:37.29 from his sixth place at the 2022 Müller Birmingham Grand Prix.

Swiss champion, 25 year old Tom Elmar (SUI) has a mile PB of 3:59.06 from June 2020 and a 1500m PB of 3:37.84 from September in the same year. Also, Six time New Zealand champion, 33 year old Hamish Carson (NZL) and 23 year old Samuel Chapple (NED) complete the line-up for the mile race, scheduled for 8.20pm.

The winner of the Millicent Fawcett Mile, which first took place in the 2018 Müller Anniversary Games to commemorate 100 years since British women first secured the right to vote, will be presented with their trophy by Wendy Sly MBE.

The Emsley Carr Mile trophy will be presented to the 2022 winner by Sir William Carr, the grandson of Sir Emsley Carr who the men’s mile event was named after 69 years ago.

The Night of the 10000 PBs will be shown live on the BBC Red Button.