British hope fails to set pace
Sep 20 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
MARA Yamauchi refused to be too disheartened by her disappointing fifth-place finish as Britain’s best hope of a domestic victory in the Great North Run failed to stay with the leading pack, writes LUKE EDWARDS.
The 37-year-old finished sixth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing two years ago and is a realistic medal hope over the longer distance in London in two years time.
However, she could not provide a first domestic winner of this race since her great rival Paula Radcliffe in 2003.
Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere finished first, with Portugal’s Ana Dulce Felix second and Marissa Barros third.
However, the Japan-based runner admitted she had been using the race as part of her preparations for the New York Marathon in November, with everything else geared towards the London Olympics in 2012.
She said: “I have a bit of work to do, some sharpening up to do, but I am not that surprised with how things went as that is about where I am in training.
“I would have hoped to have run a slightly faster time on this course, but it was not to be.
“This is part of preparations for the New York Marathon and in terms of that this has gone fairly well.
“I know I have hard training ahead of me, but that is fine.
“I am not normally one who likes to hear athletes using an excuse for a performance, but I had a cold ten days ago and I think there was a bit of that left in the system.
“There was not as much in the tank as I thought there might be.”
The ability of Europe’s top long-distance runners to compete with the African talent was called into question by men’s race winner Haile Gebrselassie on the eve of the event, but Yamauchi feels the women’s competition is much closer.
She said: “If you look at the winning time here, it is not that fast.
“I hope we can compete against the best African runners out there, I believe we can.
“As for the Emperor, Gebrselassie, it is a little different in the men’s race.
“The thing is you have to believe you can win. I believe I can win in London in two years time and I will give it my best shot. It will be the same for Farah.”
