Kyle Langford, Georgie Hartigan and Ellie Baker are among those in action this weekend at a meeting which will also pay tribute to coaching legend George Gandy

Fresh from his win in the University of Birmingham mile last week, a confident Kyle Langford will be looking for a season’s best in the men’s 800m at the Saucony British Milers’ Club Grand Prix in Loughborough on Saturday (July 24).

The British international boasts a season’s best of 1:46.32 when finishing runner-up to Oliver Dustin in the BMC Grand Prix 800m A race at Sportcity in May and some solid performances since then, including sixth at the British Championships and that 3:59.14 mile, suggest he is ready to attack his target time of 1:45.00.

Langford is the fastest man in the field but just a place behind him in the UK 2021 rankings is 22-year-old Tamworth runner Thomas Randolph.

Randolph will come into the race full of confidence after winning his first international medal with third place at the European Under-23 Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, earlier this month, producing a PB of 1:46.41 to get on to the podium.

Also in the frame is fellow under-23 international Tiarnan Crorken. The 22-year-old Preston athlete has shown consistent form in the Grand Prix series this summer with a second place at Watford, fourth at Stretford and sixth at Sportcity.

He won the England under-23 title at 1500m to earn his place in the team for Tallinn, but failed to make it out of the heats so that may give him even more motivation to shine on the domestic stage.

Rocco Zaman-Browne was third in the latest GP at Watford having run a PB of 1:47.48 at Sportcity and the 20-year-old has his sights on dipping inside 1:47 for the first time.

Other runners to watch out for in the A race are the Ireland pair of Roland Surtis and Cillian Kirwan, who have already run PBs of 1:46.74 and 1:47.59 respectively this summer.

Ireland’s Jenna Bromell has notched up a super consistent series of results over 800m in the Grand Prix season so far. Third at Stretford was followed by second at Sportcity before clocking a PB of 2:02.20 for third place at Watford.

That certainly makes the 24-year-old, who finished fourth in the Irish Championships, a contender for top spot in the A race.

Fastest British runner in the field is Wakefield’s Lucy Robinson, who set a PB of 2:05.53 in April but has only raced the distance once since then when winning the North of England title.

The 1500m was her primary target and victory at the England Championships this month in 4:18.75 on top of sixth at the British Championships, running a PB of 4:15.83, represents a decent return after a couple of quiet seasons.

It has been four years since James McMurray last won a Grand Prix A race – Sportcity in 2017 – and the St Albans runner is in with a decent chance of repeating that this weekend.

McMurray is the fastest runner in the field with his season’s best of 3:39.85 when finishing third at Watford last month, which puts him just inside the top 20 in the UK this summer.

Furthermore, his last race was a PB of 3:58.18 for the mile at the Müller British Grand Prix at Gateshead, so he is in decent form.

One of his challengers will be Leeds City runner Andrew Smith, who has enjoyed a good Grand Prix season with fourth at Stretford and sixth at Watford in the 1500m and a B race win over 800m at Sportcity.

He will be looking to beat that 3:40.55 PB he set at Watford last month while James Heneghan will also aim to better his PB of 3:41.66 set earlier this season.

Fastest woman in the 1500m is the BMC female athlete of 2020, Georgie Hartigan, with the Birchfield Harrier recording a lifetime best of 4:08.75 at the BMC regional meeting at Wormwood Scrubs earlier this month.

Hartigan, who now represents Ireland, has also notched up a PB of 2:00.18 for the 800m so goes to Loughborough in great shape.

She will be guaranteed a good race with in-form Ellie Baker also entered. The Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier has put together a series of terrific times over 800m this season, running inside 2:01.00 no less than five times, including victory at Watford and a lifetime best of 1:59.54 in France last month.

She also won the 800m at the European Athletics Team Championships in Poland.

Her only 1500m this year was a PB of 4:13.66 for third at the British Indoor Championships in February but clearly that s due for revision.

Also entered are Stephanie Cotter, Hannah Nuttall, Jennifer Walsh and Amy Griffiths in what is shaping up to be one of the best races of the evening.

Derby’s Hugo Milner lines up for the 5000m in good shape after a PB of 8:00.39 to win the 3000m in the Gold Standard races at Birmingham University last week. That comes on top of further PBs in the 1500m (3:49.22) and the 5000m (13:52.63), which he ran when winning the Sportcity Grand Prix race in May.

That makes Milner the fastest man in the field at Loughborough and joining him on the startline will be Ben Bradley, Lucian Allison, Nathan Jones and Alexander Teuten.

Jenny Nesbitt is among the women’s 5000m contenders having already won the GP at Stretford in a season’s best of 15:40.10 while last weekend she recorded 15:44.90 on a hot day in Milton Keynes.

Winner at the Soar MK 5000 PB Special meeting in Milton Keynes was Abbie Donnelly, who ran a lifetime best of 15:42.65 – and she is entered to race in Loughborough.

Also entered is 2006 Commonwealth Games runner Morag Millar, who just last week ran a huge PB of 15:43.57 which is three seconds inside the Scottish Commonwealth Games standard for Birmingham, but apparently will not be accepted as the meeting at Milton Keynes was level 1 only, so hopefully she can repeat or better that this weekend.

George Gandy remembered

Loughborough athletics is inextricably linked with legendary coach George Gandy so the British Milers’ Club has decided to tie in the latest meeting on Saturday with a commemoration for his death.

Gandy died aged 80 last October and the BMC decided that with Covid restrictions now lifted this was an appropriate time to pay tribute to one of the most popular figures in the sport.

During the course of the meeting, which starts at 4.50pm and comprise 31 races with hundreds of runners, time will be taken out for a series of interviews with people who knew Gandy well and benefitted from his coaching.

Names such as Jack Buckner, Tim Hutchings, Wendy Sly, Laura Whittle, Dave Buzza, Chris and Sonia McGeorge will be trackside to give their thoughts on what Gandy did not just for them personally but the sport as a whole.

In addition, in the morning a memorial service will be held at which BMC president Norman Poole will give an address.

READ MORE: Coaching legend George Gandy dies

Gandy was twice named the BMC coach of the year and played a big role in the organisation, not just in coaching and education but also in organising the meeting at his home track.

“He was a huge figure in the sport and in the BMC and we miss him dearly,” said BMC chairman Tim Brennan.