Busy Jess to have a crack
JESS Trengove says she won’t hold back in the Gold Coast half-marathon on Sunday despite toeing the line at the world championships just five weeks later.
Trengove is among the favourites to back up her 2015 half-marathon win on the Coast in a high quality field that includes Americans Desiree Linden and Sara Hall and Australian teammate Milly Clark.
The South Australian hadn’t planned to run at the world championships this year but after setting a personal best time of 2hr 27min 1sec to finish 10th at the London marathon in April, she said she couldn’t pass up the chance to don the green and gold.
“I went into this year thinking that I’d like to run London and maybe Berlin later in the year with the priority being to try to qualify for the Commonwealth Games,” Trengove said.
“I think when I crossed the line in London, I was happy with my time and my performance and just had this desire to run for team Australia again.
“That is why I run – I love representing my country and I love being part of a team and I really enjoyed the London experience; we had a great team with Lisa Weightman, Michael Shelley and Casey Wood.
“To replicate that feeling we had would be difficult but I thought I’d love to return to London.”
Trengove has not run a half-marathon since she won on the Gold Coast in 2015 and said the race stimulus would be beneficial in the lead-up to the world championships.
But with Linden, who placed seventh in the marathon at the Rio Olympics last year, boasting a personal best more than half a minute faster than her Australian rival, she has no easy task.
“I won’t be holding back because of the (world titles) but I’ll have to run within myself,” Trengove said.
“If the pace at the start is a silly pace for where I’m at right now, I wouldn’t do something silly but I won’t be holding back because I’m worried about getting too tired.
“Five weeks is plenty of time ahead of the marathon.
“I’ll be having a good crack.”