I was saddened to hear that Paula Radcliffe pulled out of the Olympics due to a foot injury, especially since she still holds the World Record for the Marathon at 2:15:25 (set in 2003) which (interestingly) smashed the previous record of of 2:17:18 set in 2002 by... Paula Radcliffe.
Being a bit of a fan of Paula Radcliffe and since team GB's mens Olympic cycle road race team became a victim of their own hype and expectation, yet Elizabeth Armistead managed a Silver, being literally pipped at the post by Marianna Vos who coincidentally is number 1 in the Women's cycling world rankings so could be dubbed the fasted woman on two wheels. It seemed that the female contingent of Team GB are faring quite well and I was hoping that PR would be able to bring home the gold.
But fear not race fans. Radcliffe's replacement, Freya Murray could still deliver the goods. Murray placed 13th in this year's Virgin London Marathon - running a 2:28:10 in her first ever Marathon, a brief look over her racing career shows some success at middle and long distance running, plus she is only 28 and Paula Radcliffe was 30 when she broke her Marathon WR.
But wait, it gets better. Team GB has three athletes in the Women's Marathon. Freya Murray you already know about, so who are the others? Firstly there is Mara Yamauchi who finished 6th in the Beijing Olympics but despite some injury trouble since then has been putting in some decent half-marathon times in the last couple of years. Team GB's third British marathoner is Claire Hallissey. Hallissey was the fastest elite British female in this years Virgin London Marathon. London was her third marathon in as many years and since New York in 2010 she has been shaving minutes off of her official times. Even though Hallissey and Murray placed 11th and 13th in this years Virgin London Marathon and the top spots going to Kenyan's running 2:18s, winning times in an Olympic Marathon for the previous three marathons are around the 2:26 mark which is perfect Murray/Hallissey territory, and only two of the finishers in this year's Virgin London Marathon that finished ahead of Freya and Hallissey are also in the Olympic marathon.
So with Murray, Hallissey, and Yamauchi being relatively unknown to the general public they should be protected from the curse of home-disadvantage that seems to plague so many of our athletes in International events, and their recent race performances have them in prime condition to lead this iconic race through the heart of London. In the dark cloud that appeared the retirement of Radcliffe, lining may not just be silver, but gold too.