Success and failure of GB elite at London Marathon

Well I hope JO PAVEY is not a Manchester United supporter. If she is, she has had a very disappointing day indeed.  Having decided to rest on her laurels with her 2 2011 marathon times of 2:28.42 (New York) and 2:28.24 (London) and hope that no GB girl(s) would rob her of the 3rd Olympic place she must have had a very, very anxiuos morning. If she bear to watch at all!

  She played her cards and just hoped that no one would produce a better hand.  She was wrong.
If she felt she held all the aces. It would appear her dream of racing the London Olympic marathon has gone up in smoke!
  How she must have felt when CLAIRE HALLISEY came round that corner with 200 metres to go and it looked certain she was going to go under 2:28. Then to add to her painful disappointment FREYA MURRAY came into view and she too beat her banked time.
 Not only did she decide not to race today but she has not raced all this year; so the decision for the electors tomorrow looks to be a very easy. Pavey has no recent form to convince them that she is in better form than Hallisey.   It will be interesting to see if she reverts to the 10K to secure an Olympic place.
 There is an argument to suggest that none of the ladies should have been preselected.  Times recorded a year ago in  a marathon are surely no indication of the level of fitness for the Olympic marathon in 16 weeks time.  I would have adopted the U.S.A. approach of first 3 past the post selected to race again in August. Plenty of time to recover. If Kenya could use the London Marathon as a trial, why couldn't we?
 As for the GB men, LEE MERRIEN ran 2:13.41 for a PB, first GB runner but well outside the 2:12 he was aiming for and it looks likely Scott Overall will be our only GB Olympic participant.
 Significantly, Merrien's PB time only takes him to equal 73rd on the UK all time marathon rankings. Perhaps going to Kenya to train is over rated?!
 At least the weather was favourable for the first few thousands this morning.  I know up in the North East conditions were January like with snowing returning but even in West Yorkshire the week has been a bit of a trial as northerly brought through hail storms on a regular basis.  It made for yet another testing track session on Friday; resulting in a set of 8 x 600 reps much slower than recent 10K pace! very frustrating.
 But all in all concluding with a solid 8 today (thanks for the company, John) it was another "par" week of 41 miles.
  There's a rare evening race to be tackled this week.  Thursday evening sees the first of 5 races in the MANCHESTER PARK GRAND PRIX SERIES,  the SALFORD 5K.   If you object to paying the high entry fees that many races seem to charge these days then this series is worth considering.   5 races for just £20 for club runners; £30 if unattached.
 EVENT ONE............SALFORD 5K  THURSDAY  APRIL 26 7 PM (new faster course)
 EVENT TWO...........SALE 5M          SUNDAY      MAY    27   11 AM
 EVENT  THREE.......PLATT FIELDS 10K  SUN    JUNE    24    11 AM
 EVENT  FOUR........DEBDALE PARK 7K  SUN   JULY      8    11  AM
 EVENT  FIVE ........BOGGART CHASE 10K SUN SEPT    16    11.15 AM
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