Top athletes to line-up at Poole Festival of Running

While online entries are now closed for Sunday's event in Poole Park there is still time to sign up and take part in one of the events, including the children's minithons, 5k charity race supporting the cancer centre at Poole Hospital, and the main 10k road race.

Entries will be accepted in person at Poole Park on Saturday June 6 from 12noon until 4pm, or on race day on Sunday June 7, thirty minutes before each race.

One of the organisers Mike Towner, of Poole Runners, said the event had once again drawn some top class athletes from far and wide. He added: "Likely winners of the 10k race are both Ugandans - Ben Siwa is hot favourite for the men’s title. Ben has recently won the Bristol Half Marathon Champion, and the Wilmslow Half Marathon. The female winner could well be Rachael Chebet Zena, a young upcoming Ugandan athlete on her first trip to the UK. She finished in the top 20 in the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships.

"Current favourite for the ladies' team title is probably Poole Runners, whilst the men’s team title is wide open, with a lot depending on late entries."

He added: "We would really love to see more minithon entries, especially teams from local schools and sports clubs. At the moment numbers across the events are much the same as they were last year - but we always welcome more. Everything is going well and it looks set to be a really great event."

All finishers in the 8 to 14-year-old minithon races will receive a medal. There is also a free event for U8s at 11.05pm. The Mayor of Poole will be handing out prizes, supported by the event sponsors car company Horizon and The Ark Poole Park.

The Poole 10k race starts at 2pm and there will be road closures in place around the Seldown Bridge area between 1.55pm and 2.10pm.

The Festival timetable can be found on www.poolerunners.com.

Full coverage of the event will be provided by the Daily Echo including the results and an online photo gallery.