30th October 2017

EUROPEAN 10,000M CUP TO HEAD TO LONDON

It was this morning announced that the 2018 European 10,000m Cup will be held in conjunction with the popular “Night of 10,000m PBs” in London on May 19 next year.
In an agreement between European Athletics and the organising club Highgate Harriers, the event will take place at the Parliament Hill track on London’s famous Hampstead Heath, the venue for the races since their inauguration evening back in 2013.

It will be the first time that the European 10,000m Cup will have been held in Great Britain since it was created in 1997 although there have been several British winners including Paula Radcliffe (1999, 2001) and Sir Mo Farah (2010).

The regulations of the European 10,000m Cup will continue to apply, with qualifying standards defined by European Athletics for the overseas participants in the A races so that there will be a balance in these races between Cup participants and British national athletes seeking strong competition (the men’s and women’s A races will include a minimum of 15 British athletes in each race).

Cherry Alexander, British Athletics Major Event Director, said: “We’re delighted that the 2018 European 10,000m Cup will be held as part of the Night of the 10,000m PBs in London next year.

“Ben Pochee and the team at Highgate Harriers have set the bar high for event presentation in recent years and it’s great that this is now being recognised internationally. Creating a great atmosphere for spectators always helps athletes to perform at their very best and we can be proud yet again that the UK is going to host an international championship.”

Adding his thoughts, European Athletics President Svein Arnse Hansen said: “It is a great pleasure to take the European 10,000m Cup to Britain at last.

“The Night of the 10,000m PBs has become a very popular event very quickly, which goes to show how well-organised it is and also that there is a need for top-quality races in Europe over 25 laps of the track.

“Integrating the Cup into the Night of 10,000m PBs will move both events to another level and heighten interest in both events. I think it is a win-win situation for both parties and shows European Athletics’ willingness to embrace new competitive concepts. I think it’s highly likely that the leading runners in London will be in contention for medals in the distance events at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships later next summer.”

Race Director Ben Pochee said: “I’m over the moon that our 25 lap volunteer powered initiative can now welcome the European Cup to our 2018 edition.”

“Night of the 10,000m PBs was conceived with the goal of helping improve 10,000m racing standards and showcasing the true excitement of our sport. Integrating the European Cup with our European Championship British trials will offer competitors unprecedented racing quality and provide fans with free access to an international smackdown.

“The atmosphere at Night of the 10,000m PBs is pivotal to aiding racing standards and crowd enjoyment. Therefore my aim was to attract more fans (7,500 in 2017) and create closer proximity to athletes in a bid to improve the ‘Goosebump Factor’. We therefore welcome fans to cheer from lane 4 of the track and we work with over 150 volunteer marshals to create a mobile safety barrier. In addition our ‘lactate tunnel of love’ sees athletes running through 60m of covered marquee with additional DJs and live bands playing their requested songs to inspire faster running.”

“Night of the 10,000m PBs is an athletics celebration hosted by the Highgate Harriers volunteer community & our key partners (London Marathon Events / British Athletics / Strava), and in this spirit of collective support we can’t wait to welcome our European athletic family members to the party!”