Hellen Obiri, Steph Twell, Andy Vernon and Stanley Biwott are among athletes racing the 10km on Sunday

The Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run returns on Sunday, with a number of top elite athletes set to battle for titles ahead of the 30,000-strong mass race.

Kenya’s world 5000m and recent world cross country champion Hellen Obiri is making her debut at the event and will be faced with a field containing Ethiopia’s Tokyo marathon winner Ruta Aga, while two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat also features, as does Ireland’s Fionnula McCormack.

A healthy British contingent is headed by Steph Twell, who won the Brighton 10km in 31:58 last month, and she is joined by Mhairi Maclennan, Jenny Nesbitt and Aly Dixon, who was recently named part of Britain’s IAU 50km World Championships team for the event in Romania in September.

Ugandan world cross silver medallist Jacob Kiplimo is fastest in the men’s field with a personal best of 26:41, though he will be facing the likes of Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa, Boston Marathon runner-up this year, and Kenya’s 2015 New York marathon winner Stanley Biwott.

Mo Farah is not defending the title he won last year but the British presence will feature Nick Goolab, a man on form and the fastest Briton over 10km so far this year after breaking the course record with a run of 28:22 when winning in Brighton.

He will be joined by compatriots Emile Cairess, Ieuan Thomas and Dan Studley.

The wheelchair races will feature Johnboy Smith, Simon Lawson, Mark Telford and Shelly Woods.

The Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run is the third largest running event in the country, after the Simplyhealth Great North Run and the Virgin Money London Marathon, and it will kick off with the Simplyhealth Junior and Mini Great Manchester Run before the adult’s half-marathon and 10km events.

You can read more about ‘the big three’ of the Great Manchester Run, London Marathon and Great North Run in a special five-page spotlight feature included in the latest edition of AW magazine, which is available digitally here.