6 June 2014

The British Grand Prix of Race Walking takes place this weekend with places up for grabs for the forthcoming European Championships.

Over 40 athletes from 12 countries will descend on York on Sunday 8 June for the event, which is also the British trial event for the 20km walk.

British number one Tom Bosworth (coach: Andi Drake) needs to finish in the top two to book his place on the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for Zurich after achieving the qualifying standard earlier this season.

In fact, Bosworth’s time of 1:22.20 in April was the third fastest ever by the British athlete over the 20km distance.

The field for the women’s 20km is headed by 2010 Commonwealth gold medallist Jo Atkinson (Maureen Jackson), who will be targeting a place on the GB & NI team. With the qualifying time set at 1:32.00, the Middlesbrough & Cleveland athlete will have to improve on her season’s best of 1:33.43.

Leeds City’s Ellie Dooley (Andi Drake) will be looking for a victory on home soil in the junior 10km race but faces stiff competition from Emma Achurch (Steve Arnold). While the trio of Callum Wilkinson (Mick Graham), Cameron Corbishley (Chris Hobbs) and Guy Thomas (Peter Selby) will all be targeting personal bests in the junior men’s event.

The event is free to watch and the action gets under way at 10.15am. For further information visit the website at https://sites.google.com/site/britishgrandprixofracewalking/home or follow @yorkwalk