Dreams of Gold
It’s all or nothing for Hudspith
GREAT BRITAIN cross country
international Ian Hudspith will
stage a do-or-die bid to win
Olympic Games selection in tomorrow's
Flora London
Marathon.
The 37-year-old Morpeth Harrier
has concentrated his efforts on
peaking for his second test over
26.2 miles - and he admits that it
will be his last if he fails to earn a
trip to Beijing.
He said: "The London
Marathon has been my target for
the past year and all my preparations
have gone pretty well.
"I don't think I could have prepared
better - and if I don't make
the Olympics this could be my last
ever marathon."
Ian and his elder brother Mark,
the 1994 Commonwealth Games
marathon bronze medallist, have
been among the North-East's
leading distance runners over the
past two decades.
The Newcastle schoolteacher
ran a personal-best 62 mins 53 secs
in the Hague Half Marathon in
1996 and finished 23rd in the 1999
London Marathon in a time of 2
hours 15 mins 47 secs.
Ian decided to concentrate his
efforts on the track and cross
country and was rewarded with
selection for the 2002 World Cross
Country Championships in
Dublin and the Commonwealth
Games 10,000m in Manchester
later the same year.
He realises he will have to clip
more than four minutes off his pb
if he is to achieve the UK Athletics
Olympic A standard of 2:11. If
he does he will have beaten his
brother's best-ever time of 2:11:58.
He does not see any problems
with a target of going through the
halfway mark in about 65 mins 45
secs. But he adds: "The second
half of the race will be quite unknown
territory but hopefully my
training over the past year will see
me through.
"Whatever happens, I'm really
looking forward to the race."
To achieve his Olympic dream
Hudspith will have to stick with
the group of leading British runners
which includes Commonwealth
Games bronze medallist
Dan Robinson, ninth last year in
2:14:14, and Salford's Ethiopianborn
Tomas Abyu, thirrd in January's
Houston Marathon in a
time of 2:13:45.
10:20am Saturday 12th April 2008
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