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A British athlete fights for a personal best on home turf at the 42nd TCS London Marathon
Charlotte Purdue’s recent path in athletics has not been easy.
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the 31-year-old was discretionarily denied a place in the marathon despite having a medical exemption to miss the Olympic trials a few months earlier.
Then, earlier this summer, at the World Track and Field Championships in Oregon, Purdue pulled out of the race at 19 kilometers due to breathing difficulties. A day later, she tested positive for Covid-19.
It’s been tough for Purdue, but at last year’s London Marathon she proved a point after recording a stunning personal best of 2:23:26 to move into third on the UK’s all-time marathon list behind Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi.
It was the fastest marathon by a British woman since Yamauchi’s 2:23:12 in 2009. Jess Piasecki has since overtaken Purdue after running 2:22:27 in Seville in February.
Charlotte Purdue at the London Marathon (Getty)
Although Purdue dropped out of the Oregon Marathon, she ran 2:25:26 at the Boston Marathon, and she’s definitely not short on mileage going into her fourth London Marathon.
“I feel pretty good,” Purdue says. “I was still training for the worlds, so I still had all that work in my legs. It’s been a busy year for me and Boston has been pretty busy for me.
“Last year I had a few concerns earlier in the year. London was my first marathon build-up and I already had three marathons in less than a year. Although I had illnesses this year, I didn’t have any injuries, so I feel much stronger with London, Boston and the preparation for the world championships. I feel like I haven’t had any free time so I’m definitely not unfit!
“Every time I come here [London] I’m trying to run faster, but it’s hard to hit a two-minute personal best every year.”
Purdue wants to use the heartbreaking weather experience in Oregon as motivation to run even faster in London than last year.
She faces a strong elite field that, even without world record holders Brigid Kosgei and Eilish McColgan, hosts defending champion Joycelyn Jepkosgei and fastest women’s marathon debutant Yalemzerf Yehualau.
Joycelyn Jepkosgei (Getty)
At the last London Marathon, Purdue set a personal best, even after running 12 miles alone. If it can stay in a package for a longer period, who knows what it can clock?
“My chest was so tight [at the world championships] and I couldn’t breathe,” Perdue reflected. At least I had a reason to feel so awful at 5km.
“I didn’t even know I had Covid-19. Sometimes in a race you start and you don’t feel great, but it’s just a bad moment and you get better. At 19km I just decided I was getting slower and made the decision.
“Obviously Paula [Radcliffe] set that huge mark that will be very hard to beat! If I can come to London every year and achieve a personal best, that’s fine with me.
“I hope I don’t have to do this [run alone]. If I do, given that I did it last year in London and then in Boston, I’m up for it. I have a lot of practice.”
It will be the first major sporting event on The Mall since the Queen’s funeral two weeks ago and Purdue believes it will be “strange looking back” but is “encouraged by crowds lining the streets all the way”.
Purdue first got a taste of the London Marathon when he was a teenager and won the traditional predecessor, the Mini Marathon, in 2006.
“I felt good the whole way and it felt shorter than I expected!”
Ines Fitzgerald – who broke the UK U17 3000m record last summer and is trained by Gavin, husband of @jopavey – for her Mini win @LondonMarathon 🔥🥇
🎙 @Jason_AW #LondonMarathon pic.twitter.com/e2NLQ7AGXM
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 1, 2022
Last weekend saw the class of 2022 strut their stuff and double Olympic marathon champion and world record holder Eliud Kipchoge presented the medals at the end.
One of his goals in the sport is to complete all six Abbott World Marathon Majors – Boston and New York are coming up – and Purdue wants to achieve that goal in his life as well.
“I would love to run in Berlin and all the big races, but I just can’t say no to London this year as I love the race so much,” she adds.
“Paula Radcliffe was such an inspiration to me and when I was younger I told my mum and dad that I wanted to run the London Marathon one day. For me it is [the mini marathon] It was great that they had that, especially completing it on the actual course.
“I would tell any young runner to keep enjoying it and what they are doing. That’s pretty much all you can ask for. Don’t push yourself too hard and hopefully you can improve every year. Just enjoy the process!”
» To read our mini marathon report, click here
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