Olympic snub drives Purdue marathon bid

CHARLOTTE’S P0INT TO PROVE

It tainted my desire to run for Team GB

MARATHON star Charlotte Purdue says her desire to compete again for Britain has been “tainted” by the way she was ditched for the Olympics.

Purdue, the fourth fastest Briton of all time, is out to show she should have been in Japan when she runs the London Marathon tomorrow.

She is trying to move on from losing out in selection to an athlete with a slower time. Only she cannot forget being, in her words, “thrown under a bus.”

Purdue sat out the Olympic trials due to injury, allegedly on the advice of a UKA doctor. She already had the qualifying time.

When the team was named she was omitted – she claims, based on incorrect evidence. She said: “There were things said in the selection meeting which obviously were not true and I was able to prove they weren’t.

“Things that were said about the training I was doing and my injury that were incorrect.

“I had a conversation with the British Athletics doctor a couple of weeks before the trials and told him the training I was doing. Yet in the meeting they said I wasn’t doing that sort of training.”

Purdue appealed without success and, having taken advice from the British Athletes Commission, wrote an open letter to UKA chief executive Jo Coates about the selection process.

“I did receive a reply, a letter basically saying she acknowledged my points and would look into it further,” she said. “Obviously I’m funded so I do have to have some communication with British Athletics, but I’d say since March it’s been minimal.”

Asked if she would feel comfortable running for Britain now, Purdue said: “It has definitely tainted my desire.

“It’s an honour to run for Great Britain but, definitely, I won’t forget about this whole year. I felt I could have run well in Japan.” More than 40,000 runners will take to London’s streets, with a further 40,000 participating virtually.

Purdue admits that in light of Sarah Everard’s tragic murder she will give more thought to where she trains, saying: “In the day, I do feel safe running outside by myself but I run on the treadmill now when it’s dark and in the winter because it’s a lot safer.”