Virgin London Marathon 2011 – Olympics adds to Britons‘ excitement

Andrew Lemoncello, who finished eighth on his debut at the Virgin London Marathon 12 months ago, admits this year's race is even more exciting because every British athlete has an eye on the London Olympics in 2012.

"You're not going to give up anything in the closing stages," says the US-based Scot who is leading British man in this year's elite field.

"It was so exciting when Phil [Wicks] said he was doing London, and other guys like Lee [Merrien] have been training really well, so yeah, this is going to be it," he said.

Having been forced to drop out of the Fukuoka Marathon in December with stomach cramps, Lemoncello's only marathon mark is his solid 2:13:40 from London last year which is inside UK Athletics' ‘team' standard of 2:16 for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu this August, and only marginally outside the required individual standard of 2:12.

He insists this race is a stepping stone to the Olympics, however, and at this stage he has not confirmed whether he intends to run the marathon in South Korea. He may opt to focus on the 10,000m instead.

Wicks, a former pacemaker in London, is undaunted by the prospect of his proper debut over 26.2 miles (he ran 3:03 in London in 2003, "just for fun"), and is reassured by his previous experience.

"I'm really looking forward to Sunday," he said. "My training has gone really well and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I've always run a high mileage, and while the long runs are hard work I've been feeling better every week.

"I had to train hard to pace the race, and I ran through to 25km, so although it's a debut race I've run the first half before and it's given me good experience," he said.

"The 2:12 standard is obviously on my mind, and my training has gone well enough for me to think about it. I'm aiming for it because I think I can achieve it."

Merrien, who recently returned from a UKA/London Marathon altitude training camp in Iten, Kenya, has a best of 2:16:48 from 2010. He is joined by Dave Webb, who clocked 2:15:42 within the UKA qualification period, and Martin Williams who has a PB of 2:17:36.

"Some people have said 2:12 is tough," concludes Lemoncello. "But to be realistic, you're not going to do anything at the Olympics if you can't run f that, and we can get a full team out."

Tomas Abyu, statistically the quickest British athlete, clocked his lifetime best of 2:10:37 in Dublin back in 2004. He recorded 2:14:32 at the same venue in October 2010, his second marathon in three weeks following victory at Loch Ness earlier in the month. But like Ben Whitby, who recorded 2:15:09 in Florence last year, his race was not on the published list of IAAF approved courses for Daegu qualification.

 Andrew Lemoncello

Tom Payn, who recorded 2:17:29 in 2009, raced to a lifetime best over the half marathon in 2010 and is on course to better his marathon PB.

The British team for the World Championships will be selected on Monday 18 April. UKA will select up to five athletes for Daegu if at least three eligible athletes have achieved the UKA ‘team' standard between 1 January 2010 and midnight on 17 April 2011. But if fewer than three athletes have achieved the ‘team' mark then up to two athletes will be considered if they've achieved the ‘individual' standard of 2:12.