Rio Olympic marathon star Sonia Samuels is the latest star entrant for this year’s Babcock 10K Series.

Samuels, from the Sale Harriers club in Manchester, has entered May’s three-race series alongside her husband Nick, the reigning European over-35 men’s duathlon champion following his triuumph in the running and cycling event in Spain last summer.

The pair will line up in the Helensburgh 10K on Thursday, May 9 and the Dumbarton 10K on Thursday, May 16, before completing the series alongside runners from all over the UK at the Shettleston 10K in Glasgow on Sunday, May 26.

from Manchester’s Sale Harriers has just signed up to run in the Babcock 10k Series. Samuels has entered the three race series alongside husband Nick who is European Duathlon Champion in the over 35 age group. Duathlon is the combined running and cycling event where he reigned supreme in Spain last summer.

Sonia has an impressive personal best of 32 minutes and 39 seconds for the 10k, set in 2014, while Nick has equalled the series record with a best time for the distance of 30.10.

Nick also has some outstanding middle-distance credentials to his name, including a personal best of three minutes and 43 seconds for 1,500m, which is just one second outside a four-minute mile, and one minute 49 seconds for 800 metres.

Sonia finished second Briton in the Olympic trials in the 2016 London Marathon, just seconds behind Sunderland’s Ali Dixon, in two hours, 29 minutes and 34 seconds.

Since Rio, the Loughborough-based athlete has represented England in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, where she finished fifth in the 10,000 metres, and come 21st in the European Championship marathon in Berlin.

Sonia began this year in fine style in the San Silvestre Midnight Race in Madrid, where she finished in 14th place in a time of 34.03 against a world class field.

She is a past winner of the UK 10,000-metre track championship title, and finished in third place in the Berlin Marathon in 2011.

She is looking forward to ‘locking horns’ with last year’s three race winner, Katie White from Garscube Harriers, series record holder Fionnuala Ross from Shettleston, and Kilbarchan’s Elspeth Curran, who was second in all three races last year.

More than 530 runners have entered the three-race series with three months to go before the first race in Helensburgh on Thursday May 9th. Dumbarton follows on May 16th and Shettleston on Sunday May 26th.

Series entrants will receive a special commemorative Babcock 10k Series T-shirt from series sponsors More Mile.

Every finisher at each race receives a goody bag containing a different running accessory from Start Fitness together with a unique commemorative medal.

Strathmore Water are providing more than 6,000 bottles of water to rehydrate and refresh the runners.

Additionally, all finishers at the Dumbarton race will receive a special Dumbarton Athletics Club centenary T-shirt in the club’s famous red and black colours.

In addition, the organisers have announced a special Valentine’s discount offer giving £5 off any individual race entry in the series if you enter between now and the end of February.

The discount reduces the entry fee per race from £19.50/£21.50 to £14.50/£16.50, while entry for the whole series remains great value at £43/£49.

Only one discount per entry. Use the code 1402 on the event page at entrycentral.com.

Find out more information at babcock10kseries.co.uk.