A look ahead to the second Saucony BMC Grand Prix of the summer in Manchester on Saturday

Brothers Thomas and George Keen will be looking to make a big impact at the Saucony British Milers’ Club Grand Prix at the Sport City Stadium, Manchester, on Saturday (May 28), writes Kevin Fahey.

Thomas, still only aged 20, is among the leading runners entered for the men’s 1500m and will be looking to get a clear run after being baulked in his last track outing over a mile at the Night of the 10,000m PBs when a rival fell in front of him in the final 200m.

Coach Mark Vile believes the Cambridge & Coleridge runner is set to go sub 3:40 for the first time while 17-year-old younger brother George, the reigning England Athletics under-17 1500m champion, has his sights set on the European Under-18 Championships qualifying standard of 3:52.00.

“Tom’s aim for the season is to be competitive at the British trials in June and he also wants to break 3:40 for 1500m and 1:47 for 800m,” said Vile. “He was unlucky at Highgate but still actually ran a 1500m and mile PB (3:59.05) despite having to jump the length of the faller’s body. We feel he is in shape to run around 3:36 which would put him in a good place for the Commonwealth Games.”

Birmingham University student Thomas, the 2018 European under-18 3000m champion, opened his season at the BUCS Champs when finishing sixth in the 800m in 1:49.49. Saturday’s race will be his first 1500m of the year and first since finishing sixth (in a PB of 3:41.34) at the Eltham Grand Prix last August.

George, who has a lifetime best of 3:51.54 from 2021, opened his outdoor season with a 3:54.70 as a non scorer in the Loughborough International. The brothers represent the sort of ambitious, young runners that meeting co-organiser Norman Poole is happy to welcome to the Saucony Sport City Grand Prix.

“There are a lot of talented young guys and girls entered and this meeting is very much about helping and supporting runners like that come through and establish themselves,” said Poole. “Sport City has always had a reputation for seeing lots of runners achieve qualifying times for all the various championships plus new names achieve significant breakthroughs.”

Last year the meeting boasted one national record – Kate Seary setting a Welsh best of 10:21.23 in the 3000m steeplechase – 10 championships qualifiers for the European Under-23 and Under-20 Championships plus a total of 161 personal bests from 285 finishers in 32 races, underlining Poole’s claim.

One of the top performances came in the men’s 800m with Oliver Dustin breaking 1:46 for the first time with 1:45.71 to win the A race, repeating his first GP A win at the same venue two years earlier. It proved to be the start of a great summer for Dustin as he returned to Sportcity to finish runner-up in the British Championships (1:45.12) and thereby secure his place in the team for the Tokyo Olympics.

Clearly Dustin loves racing on the Sport City track so it should be the perfect venue for him to bounce back from a disappointing last place (1:51.15) at the Birmingham University Grand Prix earlier this month.

As winner and rival Ben Pattison said immediately after that race: “Oliver will be back for sure.”

Also entered is leading junior Finlay Hutchinson of Notts, who ran a PB of 1:50.94 at the opening BMC Grand Prix, finishing sixth in the B race to put him fourth in the UK rankings. Ultimately he is chasing that World Under-20 Championships qualifying of 1:48.00.

Another top junior in the field is Elliot Savage, coached by Poole at Sale Harriers Manchester, who smashed his PB at Birmingham with 1:50.61 to finish third in the B race.

It is worth noting that a year ago Savage, then a final year under-17 athlete, ran the 800m F race at Sport City and finished seventh in 1:59.61 – what a difference a year makes!

The women’s 800m sees the return of Jenny Selman to the scene of her inaugural Saucony BMC Grand Prix A race triumph in 2021 – 13 years after she first competed in the series.

She also celebrated the victory with a PB of 2:02.16 to finally eclipse a seven-year-old mark that had stood at 2:03.54. That kick-started a great spell of form for Selman which continued into the indoor season when she improved her 800m best to 2:00.70 at the Emirates Area.

Outdoors this summer she has run 4:12.25 for 1500m in Belfast and then 2:03.02 for fourth in the 800m B race at the Müller Birminghm Diamond League last weekend.

Selman’s CV means she will start favourite for this weekend but there are some good young athletes in the races like under-20 Ella Greenway, who won the B race at Birmingham in a PB of 2:07.48 and under-17sAlicia Bennett, who set a PB of 2:08.06 at the BMC Gold Standard meeting at Birmingham earlier this month.

Among the entries for the women’s 1500m is Hannah Nuttall, who has endured a period of injuries but is on the comeback trail and ran 4:16.40 for 1500m indoors at the start of the year. The Charnwood athlete is aiming for a time around 4:10.

READ MORE: BMC Birmingham coverage

Up against here will be Sabrina Sinha, who has run 4:14.32 this season, Cari Hughes and Alexandra Millard, all of whom are looking to run close to 4:10.

The men’s and women’s 5000m races both have big entries. The men’s sees the intriguing presence of top UK under-20 Liam Rawlings, who boasts a PB of 14:08.31 which he clocked in March and is targeting the World Under-20 Champs qualifying time of 13:53 and veteran Nick McCormick, who has a lifetime best of 13:18.81.

Among the women’s entries are Morag Millar, Hannah Irwin, Mhairi Maclennan and Abbie Donnelly, who won the BUCS title at the start of the month in 15:54.11 and has her sights set on breaking her PB of 15:42.65 set last summer.

A new innovation for the meeting is a drop-in coaching clinic hosted by former professional athlete, sport scientist and coach Becky Lyne, you will be able to seek advice on, training schedules, running technique, injury prevention and management, strength and conditioning, female training considerations, sports psychology, nutrition and recovery.

READ MORE: Becky Lyne’s five tips to improve your running technique

The meeting starts at 5.15pm and spectators can purchase discounted tickets for £6 at the BMC website or for £10 on the gate. If you can’t make the meeting in person you can watch live coverage on the Vinco stream.