Virgin London Marathon – New dads face a new challenge this Sunday

Britain's Richard Whitehead and New Zealand's Tim Prendergast have become fathers for the first time in recent months – a daughter, Zara, for Richard and a son for Tim – but for a short period this Sunday, they will be spared from the joys of parenthood as they compete in the inaugural IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup at the Virgin London Marathon.

Whitehead is the T42 Paralympic 200m champion, a category for athletes with limb deficiencies. He was born without the lower part of each leg, yet he's an experienced marathon runner with an impressive best of 2:42:54 set in Chicago in 2010.

Sunday's race will be his fourth London Marathon and his 25^th outing over the 26.2-mile distance, although he admits his first love is no longer his greatest strength.

"The marathon was always my strongest event, but I'm a bit of a track specialist now and I've put on some bulk with the gym work," he said. "My training has changed massively for the 200m.

"After winning World Championships gold in New Zealand in 2011 I looked specifically for a sprints coach and started working with Keith Antoine, and now we're really pushing boundaries."

Whitehead's long distance coach is former British international Liz Yelling. He holds the world's fastest marathon time for double amputee athletes, but was unable to compete at the 2011 World Championships, or at London 2012, because there were no events for his classification.

He believes the IPC World Cup will be a step in the right direction, even if it's come a bit too late for his own distance running ambitions.

"I'm getting older," he said. "I don't think I'll go back to the marathon full time due to my commitment to British Athletics in the 200m. I'll continue to support marathon running, but I'd definitely say I'm a track specialist at the moment.

"I enjoy the marathon and value its place in the athletics calendar. This new IPC event is a big step forward and it really brings marathon running into the competitive athletics programme. Hopefully it'll show that we're about elite performance.

"I love the event and marathon running has opened a lot of doors for me. I've run in some great cities and after my Paralympics experience last year it's an opportunity to get back out there in our capital and say ‘Thank you' for the amazing support I got at the London 2012 Games."

In contrast, New Zealander Tim Prendergast is making his marathon debut. The T13 athlete was Paralympic 800m champion in his category for visually impaired athletes at Athens 2004, and most recently finished fifth over 800m and sixth over 1500m at London 2012.

"It's a little bit daunting," admitted the London-based Prendergast, who has just five per cent vision. "My mileage has obviously gone up, but from my winter-based build-up and my 1500m training, I've been used to doing up to 70-80 miles per week anyway.

"I haven't really run on much of the course," he added. "I've done the YouTube clip, but I've got to be mindful of the fact that I'm not familiar with it, and there are mile markers I won't see.

"I know where some of the key points are, like Cutty Sark, but I've got a number of friends on the course who'll shout me on, so I've asked them to shout out where I am, too."

Prendergast, a member of the Woodford Green and Essex Ladies club, ran his first half marathon in Reading this March, clocking 77 minutes 49 seconds. He's targeting a time in the region of 2:50:00 on Sunday and thinking of running the marathon at the 2017 IPC World Championships in London.

"This year is an exploratory year, and if it goes well, hopefully the marathon in 2017 will be a real possibility," he said. "But what better race than this to debut in."

Spain's Jose Antonio Castilla ran 2:31:50 in 2007 and is aiming to make the top three in the T44/46 race on Sunday to gain selection for this summer's World Championships in Lyon, France.

"The aim in London is to win," he said. "If I can win with a PB, that's even better, but the first things is to win. And if I can't win I want to finish in the top three – with that I'll go to the Worlds."

Click here for a preview of the IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup races.

 

Source: Virgin London Marathon Organisers