MO TARGETS THE BRITS & THE BEASTS
Farah tackles 33-year-old record & London’s African legends
SIR MO FARAH will relish the chance to “mix it with the guys”, and take on the big beasts in the London Marathon.
Britain’s four-time Olympic longdistance champion flew in from a three-month training camp in Ethiopia to tackle the 26.2-mile endurance test from Blackheath to The Mall, with his heart set on breaking Steve Jones’ 33-year-old British record as his baseline target.
Farah, who bailed out halfway round the course as planned in 2013, and came eighth over the full distance in 2014, in a disappointing 2hr 8min 21sec – 68 seconds outside Jones’ mark – looked happy to be home.
Behind the smiles, however, Sir Mo is ready to mix it with African big guns Kenenisa Bekele (top right) and Eliud Kipchoge (bottom right), and he said: “If world-record pace is what the guys are doing, why not go with them?”
Farah, 35, said: “This is the biggest race. There is only one way to run – and that’s mixing it with the guys and seeing what we can do.
“A win would be amazing for me – although it will be difficult. It’s a great feeling not having as much pressure as I did on the track, where people expect you to win – now there are lots of guys who can run faster than me.
“The aim is to go after the British record and see what happens after that. Since 2014, I have learned a lot about marathon running and I understand it a lot more.” Farah is clearly leaving the door ajar for an assault on marathon gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He admitted: “As an athlete, you have to be honest with yourself, you have to find a new challenge. “You have to find something that makes you get out of bed in the morning. On the track, I have won most medals there are to win – this is something I always wanted to do.” Race director Hugh Brasher revealed 160 doctors and 4,500 volunteers will be posted around the course to cope with the forecast warm weather.