Big-name Brits take to the roads of the British capital on Monday in 10km event

Mo Farah returns to racing action in the Vitality London 10,000 on Monday (May 2) and faces a strong domestic line-up. The 10-time global track champion hopes to bounce back from an underpar 2021 but will he still have the legs to beat his younger rivals after turning 39 just over a month ago?

Farah has been training in Ethiopia recently and after running in London on Monday he will tackle the Great Manchester Run on May 22. His summer racing plans after that remain unclear although he has committed already to the annual Soccer Aid football match with Usain Bolt and others at the London Stadium on June 12.

Farah is familiar with the London 10,000 event, however, as he has won the race seven times in the past. This year he faces fellow 2016 Olympic 5000m finalist Andy Butchart. The Scottish athlete has been in good form this year so far with 27:36:77 on the track in the USA in March.

Elsewhere Chris Thompson, Joshua Griffiths and Phil Sesemann will be using the race as a tune-up for championship marathons this summer. After celebrating his 41st birthday this month, the evergreen Thompson is even older than Farah and already selected to run for Britain in the World Championships in Oregon in July.

Farah said: “I’m really looking forward to getting out there and racing again at an event that I really love. I’ve been working hard to get back into shape following my injury last summer.

“I have great memories of the event. I have won it seven times and racing in central London is something you can never get bored of. The atmosphere among the thousands of participants is always fantastic and I can’t wait to be part of it again.”

Farah set the UK 10km record of 27:44 in the Vitality London 10,000 in 2010. Although that mark was equalled at the start of this year by Emile Cairess in Spain.

In the women’s race Eilish McColgan comes into the event fresh from her UK 5km record on the roads. She will face two other women who, in the past eight months, have run times that have put them into the top 10 of the UK all-time rankings for 10km – Samantha Harrison (No.5 all-time with 31:11) and Jess Piasecki (No.6 with 31:19).

There is also Charlie Purdue, although she will surely be just getting back into training following her impressive 2:25:26 at the Boston Marathon on April 18.

Purdue said: “I always love racing in London so I can’t wait to return to the Vitality London 10,000. It’s fantastic that the event is back on its famous course again and I’m sure it will be a fast, hard race. It’s going to be a great indicator for me of how well I’ve recovered from the Boston Marathon as I begin my preparations for the World Championships marathon in Oregon.”

Olympian Steph Twell, winner of this race in 2018 and 2019, also competes. Due to the pandemic, 2019 is the last time it was held in central London too.

This will be McColgan’s debut at the event. She has been in great form on the roads recently, setting a European women’s-only 10km record last September when she won the Great Manchester Run in 30:52. The time was just 31 seconds off Paula Radcliffe’s European and British record of 30:21 set in 2003.

Then in February she moved past Radcliffe in the British all-time rankings for the half-marathon when she ran 66:26 at the RAK Half Marathon. Her record-breaking 5km in Spain then followed just last weekend.

McColgan said: “I’ve been really pleased with my form on the roads this year and I’m looking forward to taking part in the Vitality London 10,000 for the first time. It’s going to be a really good opportunity for me to test myself over a fast 10km course and against good competition, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

David Weir and Shelly Woods lead the wheelchair racing line-ups with JohnBoy Smith, Simon Lawson, Daniel Sidbury, Jade Jones-Hall and Samantha Kinghorn also competing in an event that starts on The Mall and finishes by Buckingham Palace.

The day before the 10km the same area of central London will be dominated by the Vitality Westminster Mile. Like the 10km it has not been held since 2019 and during a series of mile races it offers people of all ages and abilities the chance to run, jog or walk a mile in one of the world’s most famous locations.