Cairess and Mahamed remind us why a Brit CAN win London Marathon

Will Emile Cairess and Mahamed Mahamed emulate Eamonn Martin one day? Plus, the remarkable David Picksley, rise of Podium 5km and mystery surrounding Tigist Assefa’s name

Following some modest results in the Mini London Marathon, Emile Cairess’s first taste of the full London Marathon came 18 months ago when he was part of the pacing team. As he relaxed at the finish area and looked forward to his own full debut at 26.2 miles, I asked him: “Can a British man ever win the London Marathon again in the foreseeable future?”

He looked at me as if I was slightly mad. It is a tough ask, after all. Not since Eamonn Martin in 1993 has a Brit emerged victorious in the men’s race. So in his best Yorkshire accent, he replied: “Well, we’ll do us best.”

Fast forward to April 2024 and it doesn’t seem such a crazy idea anymore. The epitome of ‘quiet confidence’ and racing in only his second marathon on Sunday, Cairess finished third overall in 2:06:46. Hot on his heels in the cold, windy conditions, Mahamed Mahamed also excelled with 2:07:05 as the duo sealed their Olympic selection.

If their progress continues, they will become even more competitive in coming years. Victory in London aside, Mo Farah’s British record of 2:05:11 could be living on borrowed time.

Beyond the elite, great stories abound

I usually spend London Marathon day in a media centre on The Mall. But for the first time in a few years I enjoyed a run-out and rumbled around London with one of my daughters on Sunday in just inside six hours.

I’m almost always immersed in the elite performances but this year’s experience reminded me of the many tremendous elements that make this the greatest race in the world. From the charity fund-raisers and fancy-dress runners to the brilliant volunteers and often magnificently eccentric roadside spectators dishing out relentless support and endless supplies of jelly babies, it is an event that brings out the best of Britain.

A word of praise, too, for my colleague Steve Smythe, who completed his 43^rd London Marathon around two hours ahead of me despite being a decade older. A prolific sub-three-hour marathoner for many years, he says 2024 might be his last due to injuries and declining performances. But don’t they all say that? Next year will mark his ‘50 years of marathoning’ and will surely prove too tempting to pass by.

Even more impressive was David Picksley, the oldest finisher both in London in 2023 and again last weekend. Armed only with a walking stick and an unfathomable amount of grit and determination, the 91-year-old from south Croydon grinds out his marathons in seven hours in the quest to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK.

Impressively, he finished on Sunday despite falling on a bump into the road at 15 miles and suffering a bloody nose. “With help from four runners and a St John Ambulance first aid team who picked and patched me up – and with no bone or muscle problems – I finished at a good pace,” he says. “I lost over half an hour on the walk, which need not matter.”

The full story on this remarkable character is in the next issue of AW magazine, which is out next week.

Podium 5km ticks all the boxes

Since its humble early days in Barrowford, the Podium 5km events have gone from strength to strength. On Saturday the latest Podium 5km, on this occasion supported by ASICS, took over Dulwich Park in south London with Laura Muir adding a touch of world-class to some already strong entries.

The events have managed to blend old-school values with innovative ideas. Most of all, they are simply athlete-friendly as they provide great racing opportunities for runners in search of a PB, with generous prize money to boot.

Tigist or Tgist Assefa!?

How can there be so such uncertainty over the spelling of a world marathon record-holder’s name?

London Marathon spelt her name “Tigst” last weekend, but World Athletics and the World Marathon Majors both used “Tigist” in their reports and World Athletics had “Tigist” in its world athletes of 2023 promo material. However, the global governing body has “Tgist” in its athlete profiles and stats.

The athlete herself, meanwhile, has “Tigist” on her Instagram page, whereas her agent, Gianni Demadonna, has used both versions on social media.

Last year after she broke the world record in Berlin an adidas PR person emailed me to say I had her name ‘wrong’ in an article (they advised it was “Tgist”). So I wrote back outlining the confusion and I didn’t get a reply.

Similarly, when Haile Gebrselassie broke through in the 1990s, his name was spelt multiple ways before the media finally settled on the correct way.

The whole thing reminds me of nine-time European cross-country champion Sergey Lebed. Or is it Sergiy Lebid? Journalists were never quite sure when he was at his peak and both versions have been used a lot over the years. Even now Wikipedia is unsure, as it says: “Serhiy Lebid or Serhii Lebid” at the top of his page.

The main reason for the confusion, I believe, is that these names are translated from languages – Amharic in Assefa’s case – that use a different alphabet. Still, can everyone not agree on a consistent English spelling?

Vamos, Valencia!

The European Indoor Championships in Valencia in 1998 was my first international reporting trip for AW and proved a memorable event.

Ashia Hansen made a name for herself and spawned plenty of “Brimful of Ashia” headlines after breaking the world indoor triple jump record, while John Mayock beat “an armada” of Spanish middle-distance runners to take 3000m gold.

“If Mayock had chisels in his elbows,” one of them remarked afterwards after a particularly physical race, “I’d have holes in my chest”.

As a sign of the times, there were even spectators smoking in the arena.

Given this I was pleased to see the event returning to the same stadium in 2027. Hopefully this time there’ll be no smoke but plenty of fire on the track.

» Subscribe to AW magazine here

Cairess and Mahamed remind us why a Brit CAN win London Marathon appeared first on AW.