Farah ready to enter marathon unknown

Somalia athlete believes he can win his first competitive race.

LONDON:

Mo Farah is all set for the unusual experience of being a ‘first-timer’ in a major race when the British track star makes his marathon debut in London on Sunday.

It was in London two years ago that Farah won gold in both the Olympic 5,000 metres and 10,000m, joining a selected group of athletes to have triumphed in both long-distance races at the same Games.

It was a double he repeated at last year’s World Championships in Moscow but Farah now faces a field full of top-class marathon runners.

His rivals on Sunday include Uganda’s world and Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich, Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang, the world record-holder, and double-defending London champion Tsegaye Kebede.

“If you look at the field in terms of the athletes, which athletes in there are running their first marathon?” said Farah.

“Pretty much none. It is strange feeling like a novice. In track races you know if you go to the front you can control a race.

“It’s the distance more than the race — as a track runner you can constantly cover the distance in training.

“However in this one I just don’t know what’s going to happen,” added Farah.

But it is not impossible for a marathon debutant to emerge victorious — Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele won on his first competitive attempt at the 26.2 miles distance in Paris last week.

“It does give me good confidence that I can repeat that feat,” said Farah.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2014.

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