New York is high in rivals’ thoughts

Sep 19 2009 by Nick Purewal, The Journal

FROM three corners of the world they converge on the Tyne Bridge tomorrow, with nothing but victory and a New York rematch in mind.

The trio of top-class distance runners sat a little uneasy in each other’s company, but when the gunshot starts the Great North Run tomorrow all three could well become far better acquainted.

With fine weather and good form though, that acquaintance could last less than 60 minutes.

Decorated duo Kenyan Martin Lel and Moroccan Jaouad Gharib both have eyes firmly on a first place South Shields finish in the morning, while the Irish Half Marathon record holder Martin Fagan could yet push the pace all the way to the coast.

Boasting three London Marathons, one New York win, the 2003 World Half Marathon and the 2007 Great North Run title, Lel’s pedigree is undisputed.

While with two World Marathon Championships, a silver medal in Beijing and the Moroccan national Marathon record, Gharib is hardly a newcomer.

But if Fagan is not yet in that pair’s medal-haul company, all three power into the world’s biggest half-marathon tomorrow with November 1 and New York high on the agenda.

Neither do the similarities end there – crocked when it came to Berlin, all three bided their time, worked on their fitness and are now intent on using the showpiece North East event as a stepping stone to that Big Apple showdown. Just 42 days and 13.1 competitive miles separate these men from their US mission, but for Fagan heading to the States only really means heading home.

High in the Arizona mountains Fagan pounds the arid, dusty desert path in an altitude training regime that he admits he must balance perfectly, or risk undoing all his good work. Building a home on the edge of the Colorado Plateau in the little town of Flagstaff, Fagan’s training takes him round the outskirts of the iconic Route 66.