Ah, the opportunities for a three time gold medalist! Usain Bolt will be running a 150 meter race in Manchester, England before the BUPA Great Manchester 10k, which will be featuring Haile Gebrselassie. This is all part of the Great City Games over the weekend of May 16-17. Runblogrun salutes Manchester and BUPA for putting together such a creative event!
Photo by Photorun.net.
Bolt to run 150 metres on the street
MANCHESTER (GBR): Triple Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest ever man, will be the star attraction at the Great City Games Manchester, which will form part of a spectacular weekend of sprinting and distance running in May. The 22-year-old Jamaican superstar will compete on European soil for the first time this year before tackling some Grand Prix races on the IAAF World Athletics Tour circuit in June and July in his build up to the following month’s World Championships in Berlin. Now “Lightning Bolt” whose breathtaking performances in the Bird’s Nest stadium will forever remain legendary sporting moments, is set to take to the streets of Manchester on the afternoon of Sunday May 17. He will contest an innovative 150 metres race (straight without a curve) on a specially constructed tartan track in the city centre. “I am very excited to compete for my first time in Manchester, my first time in a 150m race and my first time in a street race outside the stadium,” said Bolt, a Manchester United football supporter. “I love competing in the UK – it is like my second home as I usually stay in London during the European racing season. When I heard about the idea I thought it would be great fun and something new and exciting.” Bolt, very eager to sample the atmosphere of racing away from the track, added: “Hopefully this event will be the start of many more similar events all over the world and inspire kids to take up athletics.†Informs David Martin. The Red Devils fan added: “I am also looking forward to going to Old Trafford to support my team. I’ve wanted to come to a match for a long time and am delighted to get the opportunityâ€. Bolt clocked last weekend windy 9.93 and will go now back to training to prepare for his next race in Kingston on May 2 followed with Manchester and already announced participation in Toronto on June 11. The fastest solo 150 m registering by statisticians is 14.8 of Pietro Mennea from 1983. Bolt´s presence is another notable sporting coup for the sports mad city as earlier in the day Ethiopia’s world marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie will be bidding to regain his Bupa Great Manchester Run title in a record field of 33,000 runners over 10 kilometres.
As always, special thanks to Alfons Juck.
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