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World's top marathon masters set to battle for global honours
More than 4,000 veterans to compete in the inaugural Abbott World Marathon
Majors Wanda Age Group World Championships
Many runners dream of winning a world title. Few - very few - get a chance
to do so at 86.
But that's what South East London's Eileen Noble will set out to achieve on
Sunday morning when she lines up for the start of the 2021 Virgin Money
London Marathon.
Noble, the oldest female starter among the 40,000-plus field, will be
running her 20th London Marathon since she took up jogging to keep fit at
53, but her first as a competitive athlete striving to be crowned as the
best on the planet for her age.
The rare opportunity to achieve such a global accolade arises thanks to the
Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group World Championships, being
held for the first time as part of this year's event.
The brainchild of Virgin Money London Marathon Race Director Hugh Brasher,
the championships will see 4,200 runners from 82 countries competing in 18
age categories from 40-44 to 80+, nine each for men and women. All have
earned their place in London by completing some of the event's 150
qualifying races held across six continents between September 2018 and
December 2020.
A potential world champion at 86
Noble won her championship entry with ease, having won five age group
awards at marathons, four in London and one in Lochaber, and the one-time
middle-aged jogger now has high hopes of adding a first world title to her
list of late-life achievements.
"When I started I certainly didn't think I would ever be running to be a
world champion at 86," said Noble, who has a best time of 4:40 and still
trains three or four times a week.
"I wasn't ever looking that far forwards, to be honest. I just started
running to keep fit with a friend and got hooked.
"So these championships are particularly exciting. I was quite disappointed
last year when it was cancelled [due to the Covid-19 pandemic] because I
knew it was going to be special."
It will be a special day for Yuko Gordon too, a former Olympic marathon
runner who had a 15-year break from the sport when she had children and is
now one the favourites in the women's 70-74 category.
Memories of the Olympics
Japan-born Gordon, competed for Hong Kong at the 1984 Olympic Games, an
experience she describes as 'a beautiful memory' and 'mixed' at the same
time.
"The Olympics is the Olympics and I felt a bit like I didn't belong there,"
she said. "I was an air hostess at the time with three months' leave. I was
fittest in my life but I ran slower than my PB in the race. But it was
still fantastic."
Gordon moved to the UK in 1998 and retired from running until six or seven
years ago when her children finished A-levels. Now she's a veteran with her
eyes fixed firmly on winning global honours, this time running for Japan.
"I started as an everyday runner," said Gordon, who completed her first
marathon in 1980 when there were just six women.
"I didn't start as an elite, I was just jogging. I didn't ever think I
would be an Olympic runner, but I guess competitiveness is in my nature so
I wanted to do my best."
"I didn't start as an elite, I was just jogging. I
didn't ever think I would be an Olympic runner,
but I guess competitiveness is in my nature so I
wanted to do my best."
Yuko Gordon
She may have to be at her best to win age group gold on Sunday, for she
faces USA's formidable Jeannie Rice, a three-time world record breaker for
her age who is clearly relishing the prospect of international competition
in her 124th marathon.
A fun race
"This is going to be a fun race," said Rice, who moved to the United States
from South Korea in 1968.
"I've got all the records, yes, but only because Yuko wasn't running when I
set them. Now she's very strong so I expect it will be very close. I would
be honoured to be second to her. She is an Olympian.
"I didn't start running till I was 35 but I haven't stopped since," added
Rice. "Now I'm 73, so I do have a lot of mileage in my legs."
Like Noble, both Gordon and Rice have run the London Marathon before,
although it was back in 1983 in Rice's case - "It was very different then,"
she said. But for Volker Rose and Jose Santiago, who go head-to-head in the
men's 50-54 age group, Sunday's race will be their London debuts.
For Rose, in particular, it will be day to remember as he will also become
a 'Six-Star Finisher', an honour bestowed in those completing all of the
half dozen Abbott World Marathon Majors Rraces.
Something to celebrate
"I have three great reasons to be here," he said. "It's my first London
Marathon, my first Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group World
Championships, and I'm going to be a Six-Star Finisher. So I am really
looking forward to crossing the line with something to celebrate."
A scientist by day, Rose took up running after watching the mass field of
the Chicago Marathon from his home in the city's suburbs, and then
supporting his wife as she took on the 26.2-mile challenge herself.
"I was extremely impressed so I had to follow her," he said. "I had a
choice - to stay on the couch or get up and do it.
"By day I am a scientist, so I brought the commitment and fascination of
that to the sport. I plan and execute my training, and I'm part of a team
now that pushes me to be better. My second job now is marathon training."
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