STEPH TWELL TO DEBUT OVER 10 MILES IN BUPA GREAT SOUTH RUN
Stephanie Twell, despite a gruelling schedule at the recent Commonwealth Games, will compete at the Bupa Great South Run in Portsmouth on Sunday October 24.
The former World Junior Championships 1500 metres title holder, who won bronze over the distance and then finished fourth in the 5000m, will quickly switch from the track to a 10 mile appearance at the south coast venue. Twell has never competed over the distance before but earlier this year ran a very fast half marathon in Guernsey where she debuted over 13.1 miles with an impressive time of 71 minutes 56 seconds. Now the 21-year-old faces another testing race at one of the world's biggest 10 milers, which has attracted an entry of 23,000 runners including a stellar women's field. Twell will go head-to-head with reigning Olympic marathon champion Constantina Dita of Romania, Kenya's Grace Momyani, winner of the Commonwealth 10000 gold medal in Delhi, and fellow Briton and former Bupa Great South Run champion, Jo Pavey. Joining them will be Italy's Anna Incerti, the European marathon bronze medallist, top Hungarian pair, Aniko Kalovics and Krisztina Papp, and South Africa's Tanith Maxwell, in the 21st staging of the prestigious IAAF Gold Label rated event. Despite the strong overseas presence, the domestic clash with Pavey, herself a world class track performer and past Commonwealth Games 5000m silver medallist, will be of particular interest in deliberating Twell's long term future. "There's nothing like two Britons battling it out in a British race and I'm sure what is effectively an ‘old versus new’ scenario will bring out the best in both," said Peter Riley, the meeting's elite athletes manager. "It's no secret Steph eventually plans to follow the career path of Paula Radcliffe, who excelled on both the track and cross country before becoming the world's marathon record holder and leading road runner. "The Bupa Great South Run will also give her an early opportunity to deal with not only a very strong field, but a mixed mass participation race where she'll be surrounded by male athletes which can restrict her stride pattern. "I'm sure this early step up will be of great benefit and how she performs will be very closely watched." The race, one of the world's biggest 10 mile events, will be televised live by Channel 5 from 1030am to midday. Ends Editors notes Nova International The Bupa Great South Run is brought to you by event organisers Nova International and is sponsored by Bupa. Nova International, headed by Olympic Medallist Brendan Foster, is one of the UK’s leading event management and sports marketing agencies. The company’s current brand portfolio also includes some of the biggest running events in the world all based on the Bupa Great North Run, the world’s largest half marathon with over 54,000 entries. Nova International was established in 1988 and has a strong sporting pedigree. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Nova have established themselves as a market leader in the world of sports marketing and event management. For more information please visit www.greatrun.org. About Bupa Bupa’s purpose is to help people lead longer, healthier, happier lives. A leading international healthcare group, we offer personal and company health insurance, run care homes for older people and hospitals, and provide workplace health services, health assessments and chronic disease management services, including health coaching, and home healthcare. With no shareholders, we invest our profits to provide more and better healthcare. We are committed to making quality, patient-centred, affordable healthcare more accessible in the areas of wellness, chronic disease management and ageing. Employing over 50,000 people, Bupa has operations around the world, principally in the UK, Australia, Spain, New Zealand and the USA, as well as Hong Kong, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India, China and across Latin America. For more information, visit www.bupa.com
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