by Stuart Weir
GB Marathon team for Paris
The six athletes selected to run for Team GB in the Paris Olympics have been confirmed. Three had been pre-selected, and three earned their places following excellent performances in the recent London Marathon. The athletes are as follows (listed with coach and club).
Women
Charlotte Purdue (Nic Bideau, Aldershot Farnham and District)
Rose Harvey (Alistair Cragg, Clapham Chasers)
Calli Hauger-Thackery (Hallamshire)
Men
Emile Cairess (Renato Canova, Leeds City)
Mahamed Mahamed (Idris Hamud, Southampton)
Phil Sesemann (Andrew Henderson, Leeds City)
After stellar performances at the TCS London Marathon last weekend, Cairess and Mahamed moved to second and third on the UK all-time rankings for the men’s marathon. Cairess ran a 2:06:46 for third place overall and now only sits behind Sir Mo Farah in the UK all-time list. Mahamed will be another first-time Olympian after running a time of 2:07:05, which moved him ahead of 1984 Olympian Steve Jones in the all-time list.
Harvey joins Purdue and Thackery in the women’s marathon, following a 2:23:21 clocking at last year’s Chicago Marathon. The 31-year-old, who has earned two top-10 placings in major marathons recently, will make her Games debut this summer.
Rose Harvey’s is a remarkable story. She only took up running more seriously at the start of the lockdown, when she was suddenly made redundant from her job as a corporate lawyer. Now, just a few years later, she is off to the Olympics.
