Press Release - London Marathon - 4/12/18

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                British Race Preview: Farah leads UK charge 
                       with Euro places up for grabs

12/04/2018

All eyes will be on Sir Mo Farah on Sunday 22 April as he strives to end 
Britain's 25-year drought in the London Marathon men's race and break Steve 
Jones's 33-year-old British record.

Four years ago Farah made his marathon debut in London amid high 
expectations and, despite finishing ‘only' eighth, came home with an 
English record of 2:08:21 and the second fastest time in British marathon 
history.

Now with his glittering track career behind him, the quadruple Olympic 
champion will be looking to make his mark on the roads in the company of 
some of the greatest marathon runners of all time.

It remains to be seen whether Farah can live with the speed of the world 
record-chasing east Africans and become the first British men's winner 
since Eamonn Martin in 1993, but the 35-year-old will certainly have 
Jones's 1985 UK mark of 2:07:13 in his sights and possibly even the new 
European all-time best of 2:05:48.

"I am thrilled to be starting this new chapter in my career with the London 
Marathon," said Farah. "The London Marathon is my home race and it is so 
special to me. 

"When I decided to concentrate solely on the roads from 2018 I knew that I 
wanted this to be my first marathon. The London Marathon has been a great 
supporter of me over the years. It doesn't feel that long ago that I was 
running the Mini Marathon and in my early years the London Marathon 
provided me with crucial funding support."

Farah has already shown good form this year, beating reigning London 
Marathon champion Daniel Wanjiru to win the Vitality Big Half in early 
March. Now British-based with Paula Radcliffe's husband, Gary Lough, as his 
new coach, Farah will be hoping to convert that half marathon form into 
full marathon success.

He will not be the only Briton on show, of course, as four other men and 
three women will set off from Greenwich among the elite fields in pursuit 
of places on Britain's marathon team at this summer's European 
Championships.

Tsegai Tewelde and Jonny Mellor have both achieved the men's qualification 
time of 2:16:00 but will need to be among the top two Britons across the 
line to guarantee their places in Berlin. Mellor lowered his best by four 
minutes to 2:12:57 when he was 10th at the Berlin Marathon last September, 
while Tewelde ran for Britain at the Rio Olympics after a breakthrough 
performance at the 2016 London Marathon.

They will be shadowed by debutant Matthew Clowes and Aaron Scott, who 
chopped almost 90 seconds off his personal best last year to finish 24th in 
2:17:50.

Charlotte Purdue was all set to head the British women's field but the 
26-year-old has been forced to pull out with a stress fracture in her femur 
after running at the World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia two 
weeks ago.

Purdue has already beaten the women's qualification standard of 2:36:00 but 
her place could be under threat if Tracy Barlow or Lily Partridge can rise 
to the challenge in her absence and reproduce the form they showed in 2017.

Barlow was 16th overall in last year's race in 2:30:42 and ran for Britain 
at the World Championships in London last summer, while Partridge clocked 
2:32:10 to place fourth in Seville last spring.

Rebecca Murray will be the unknown package in the women's line-up. The 
23-year-old makes her full marathon debut after finishing 10th at the Great 
North Run half marathon last September.

Coached by Radcliffe's former guide, Alex Stanton, she certainly has a 
strong background having won British universities titles at 5000m, 10,000m 
and cross country in recent years.

See page 63 of the 2018 Media Guide for details of the European 
Championships selection criteria.

     - 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon Elite Men's Field

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