Middle-distance runners used British Milers’ Club events in lead-up to winning major medals this year

It has been a memorable year for British middle-distance runners and, as 2022 draws to a close, the British Milers’ Club (BMC) has given Laura Muir and Jake Wightman its main senior athlete awards.

Muir, who won European and Commonwealth 1500m titles in addition to world 1500m bronze, finished ahead of Calli Thackery, while world 1500m champion Jake Wightman took the men’s prize from runner-up Ben Pattison.

Muir used the BMC circuit to post an early-season 800m time of 1:57.23 – a BMC women’s record in a mixed race – at Trafford, whereas Wightman raced at the BMC Indoor Grand Prix in Sheffield last winter over 3000m, where he finished a close second to Ossama Meslek in 7:50.97.

Elsewhere on the BMC circuit in 2022, Pattison set a BMC men’s 800m record of 1:44.60 at Trafford in July, while Elliot Giles ran a BMC men’s record of 3:36.26 at the BMC Gold Standard meeting in Watford in August.

Abigail Ives and Ethan Hussey, who both reached world under-20 finals in Cali, took the junior awards ahead of Iris Downes and Osian Perrin respectively.

Geoff Wightman was named coach of the year for guiding Jake to not only global gold ahead of Jakob Ingebrigtsen in Eugene but also European 800m silver and Commonwealth 1500m bronze.

Andy Young, coach to Muir among others, was runner-up, with Rod Lock earning a lifetime coaching achievement honour and Neville Taylor being awarded the Frank Horwill Award for Services to the BMC.

The awards follow the news that all five of the Saucony BMC Grand Prix events in 2023 will be part of the World Continental Tour as Challenger meetings.

The fixtures are:
May 27 – Manchester, Sportcity
June 10 – Loughborough
July 1 – Watford
July 29 – Birmingham University
August 12 – Manchester, Trafford

Tim Brennan from the BMC said: “We are really pleased to be included in the World Tour. It enables us to offer a great domestic opportunity to our members and will attract a strong overseas entry to enhance the quality of the races.”

Entries are also open for the BMC Indoor Grand Prix on January 8 in Sheffield. See britishmilersclub.com for more.