Virgin London Marathon – Judd chases fourth title at Mini London Marathon

Defending champion Jessica Judd will target her fourth successive title at the Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon this Sunday, 22 April.

The talented Chelmsford junior runs for the East regional team in the event which doubles as the UKA Young Athletes Road Race Championships.

Judd is the UK's quickest ever under-17 over 3000m after a 9:08.5 lifetime best 12 months ago. She won an IAAF World Youth Championships bronze medal over 800m last summer, and took the UK Inter Counties cross country title this March. She will want to assert her dominance on the road by securing victory in this event.

"There is such a brilliant atmosphere for the Mini Marathon and it's such a great event," said Judd. "To run past some great landmarks is really special and with so many people out there waiting on the start of the full marathon you get so many people cheering you on.

"I really enjoy the event and I'm really sad it's my last year."

The Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon involves a series of races for those aged between 11 and 17 divided into three age categories for boys and girls.

The popular event starts in Old Billingsgate and covers the last three miles of the London Marathon route before finishing under the main gantry at The Mall. It took place for the first time in 1986 involving children from all 33 London Boroughs, and now includes 2000 young athletes representing nine English regional teams and the home countries.

While Judd is undoubtedly favourite to take the under-17 women's title on Sunday, she will be chased hard by English National Cross Country runner-up Alex Clay, who defeated her at Parliament Hill in February.

Clay, who proved her consistency when finishing second to Judd a fortnight later at the McCain Inter Counties and Cross Challenge final, will race for the South east. She recently finished fourth at the World Schools Cross Country Championships behind her talented younger sister Bobby, who took victory on that occasion.

Bobby Clay, based on her current form, is arguably the favourite in the under-15 event although she's up against last year's under-13s winner Katie Shiel-Rankin, also running for South East, and defending champion Bronwen Owen from Yorkshire and Humberside.

Another firm favourite for victory is defending girls' under-17 wheelchair champion Jade Jones, who represented Britain in last year's IPC senior World Championships.

The 16-year-old five-time world junior champion was second in the 2010 girls' wheelchair race to multiple world record holder and double world champion Hannah Cockroft. She is coached by the six-times senior London Marathon champion, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, and her husband Ian.

"I'm pleased with how training is going right now and I really hope I can defend my title," said the North East athlete. "I've just returned from warm weather training in Portugal and I'm looking forward to going straight into competition. It's a big year for me and I really hope to back in London competing at the Paralympic Games this summer."

In the male events, Jonathan Davies is undoubtedly the pre-race favourite for the under-17 race. Davies, who will race for the South East team, is the 2012 UK Inter Counties and English Schools champion.

Defending under-15 champion Jack Crabtree, from North West, should be a strong contender again alongside Haringey brothers Paulos and Petros Asgodom.

The Asgodoms have been impressive throughout the cross country season – Paulos finished runner-up in the English National Cross Country Championships while Petros was third. They will want to translate that form onto the road, as will Scotland's Euan Gillham who concluded his winter season with victory in the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships.

East Midlands' Hugo Milner has a realistic chance of taking the under-13 title. He was the top-ranked UK 1500m runner in his age group last year and finished third in the English National Championships where only 10 seconds split the top six. Another serious contender is Nationals winner Caanan Solomon from East England.

The first races start at 08:55 when the under-14 and under-17 wheelchair races get underway, followed by under-17 boys at 09:10, under-15 boys at 09:17, under-13 boys at 09:24, under-17 girls at 09:31, under-15 girls at 09:38, and under-13 girls at 09:45.

 

 Virgin Money Giving Mini London Marathon