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Four days of running across different distances and surfaces will test the field in the EY Easter Festival.
Racing gets underway on Friday with a 5K on the West Coast, before heading to L’Ancresse for a 4.75 mile cross country the following morning.
Sunday sees participants forming teams for the relays over a one mile circuit at Delancey before the festival return to more serious action with the final 10k across the north of the island on Monday.
“We have significantly exceeded the entry numbers from last year,” said Guernsey Athletics’ Endurance Director Chris Gillman.
“It's fantastic to see more people getting involved because we want to make the event as inclusive as possible. This is the first year we'll have wheelchair athletes competing over the 5k and 10k road races too, which is very exciting - and hopefully something we can build on in future.”
At the sharp end, the field is bolstered by visiting athletes from Jersey and the UK.
“Guernsey's UK-based athletes will be returning to compete, so the depth of the fields and racing will be good,” he said.
“Last year's overall male and female winners are returning, Joe Morwood and multiple Olympian Steph Twell, so we are expecting that to raise the performances of our local athletes.
“On the men's side, Chris Bain broke the island 5k road record last week in the UK, so he's clearly in good form and we'd expect the likes of Richard Bartram, Alex Rowe, Dan Galpin, Ethan Woodhead and Rick Weston to be in the mix too.
“We're going through somewhat of a transition phase on the local women's side at the moment, so we'd expect the return of Twell and the inclusion of Louise Small - who last raced in Guernsey in 2011 - to really make things interesting for the likes of Nix Petit, Ulrike Maisch and Nat Whitty.”
Twell will do a Q&A at number collection on Thursday evening.
“Hopefully that will help to inspire some of our up-and-coming athletes.”
This year there are cash incentives for anyone who can break the course records to add “a bit of extra spice to proceedings”.
“We're obviously grateful to our sponsors, EY, Guernsey Police, Civil Protection, St John Ambulance and all of our many volunteers for making the weekend possible.
“We're all set for another great weekend... So hopefully the weather is kind to us.”
The festival also includes junior races.
Entries are now closed.
Friday
10:00: West Coast 5K - L’Eree to Vazon
Saturday
10.30: Keith Falla Memorial Cross Country, start/finish at Lucksall Garage
Sunday
10.30: 4x1 mile cross country relay, Delancey Park
Monday
09.30 10k, Grande Rocque to Northside
Pictured top: The start of last year's relay. Picture by Chris George.
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