Official British Olympic Marathon Trials Discussion Thread - Race is at 8am local (4 am ET, 9 am CET))

Dewi Griffiths for the win

4am ET is a bit rough, but considering what might be at stake, it's intriguing enough to give up a few hours of sleep.

Men about to start.

Good luck to everyone.

Pretty low key event over here. had to search a bit on bbc to find it.

Finishing in the top two at Kew is half the deal, but athletes also have to duck inside the Olympic qualifying times. They can do this on the day or have run the required time at any point from January 2019 onwards.

The men's qualifying time is 2:11:30. The women's is 2:29:30. In the 20km walk, the men need 1:21:00 and the women require 1:31:00.

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Marathon begins at Kew Palace and finishes at Palm House

Natasha Cockram, best-placed Briton in last year's London Marathon competes in women's event

Wales' Dewi Griffiths fastest man in men's field

Callum Wilkinson and Tom Bosworth automatically qualify for Tokyo in the 20km race walk trial earlier

I have bolded the best bit, so that our cousins think we are really thick.

Men inside the qualifying standard after 10k but early days. A very aesthetically pleasing course.

Haven’t seen Tom Evans.

Maybe. Good to hear his old man gave him time off from lambing duties on the farm.

30:50 10k just achieved.

2:10 is 30.48.

Course is damp and very twisty with very sharp turns on a path through the beautiful and historic Kew Gardens.

Selection is next tuesday.

Thommo being dropped.

Tuning in 34 minutes in. Surprised to see only Dewi and Ben Connor with the illustrious pacers (C Hawkins and Jake Smith). Chris Thompson and Mo Aaden just off pace right now. Nobody else in sight, but that may be the twisty course hiding runners close behind?

A few turns but some good long stretches too. Weather about 10 degrees. Tim Hutchins was saying the wind had got up but course quite sheltered. Trees don’t seem to be moving too much.

pupil3142 wrote:

Pretty low key event over here. had to search a bit on bbc to find it.

It's also on the British Athletics site:

Thank you to the male commentator (I think it's Rob walker but I could be wrong) who completely shut down Mara Yamauchi when she tried to bring up shoe discussions and carbon plates. Just refused to acknowledge the topic and moved on immediately. Brilliant.

It’s Tim Hutchins

45;59 at 15k

On 2:09 pace at 15km, too fast. I thought Thompson had been dropped but just as likely he's staying on pace. Someone will blow at 30km if the pace stays that hot

good talk on pace makers.

The Olympics is a race, time doesnt matter, so athletes need to have a race brain. Pace makers takes away the race brain. All the women running to pace, not race; not learning how to compete.

says Mara.

ladies 52:41 at 15k. ahead of req.

I live near to the course- it's decently windy, especially the gusts, but kew gardens is so sheltered that it shouldn't be much of a problem.

"...he looks bouncing along, he's got a lovely relaxed style..."

"Bouncing along...as in the bouncy shoes? Duh.

The pace-setter in the mango-orange pants is in AlphaFly's or VaporFlys. The tight corners present a bit of challenge in them.