Lemoncello UK favourite for 30th London Marathon

Published on Saturday 16 April 2011 12:26

Scotland's Andrew Lemoncello will fly the flag for Britain in today's London Marathon as 36,500 runners take to the streets for the 30th anniversary race.

Lemoncello, who came eighth last year, is the British favourite in the men's race. He will compete alongside international athletes including defending champion, Tsegaye Kebede, and three-time winner Martin Lel, who triumphed in London in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

In the women's race, Jo Swinson, the deputy leader of the Scottish Lib Dems and MP for East Dunbartonshire, is only the second female MP to sign up for the marathon. The 31-year-old said she ran five times a week while training. "Given that we work until 10pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, taking a break from the desk to go and run at the gym is fair enough, I reckon. But you have to be able to vote if the bell rings," she said.

Many of the runners are fully-fit men and women raising cash to help people overcome sickness and disability. But PC David Rathband, who was blinded by gunman Raoul Moat, will be on the streets himself. He is competing in aid of the Blue Lamp Foundation, which he set up to support people in the emergency services injured in the line of duty by a criminal act.

PC Rathband said: "It's a very lonely place when you're training. I've been to some very, very dark places, and I've had some visitors that I'd choose not to have. But they pop along and I try to run them out, and I've managed to do that. But it's public knowledge that the trial went on for a very long time and it ripped my wife and myself apart for the second time, and I'm still trying to rebuild my strength, energy and health."

Two men were convicted at Newcastle Crown Court last month for helping Moat during his shooting spree.

PC Rathband added that he was only aiming to "beat the road sweeper".

Among the elite female runners, Liliya Shobukhova will be out to retain the title she won 12 months ago. The Russian's biggest rival could be Germany's Irina Mikitenko, who won in 2009. In the absence of Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi, Britain's hopes in the women's event rest with Olympian Liz Yelling, the 2006 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, and two marathon debutantes, Yelling's sister-in-law Hayley Yelling and Jo Pavey, who was sixth in the recent New York half-marathon.

Seven Japanese athletes were added to the elite women's field following the earthquake and tsunami. The disaster led to the cancellation of the Nagoya Marathon, the final selection race for Japan's World Championships marathon team. London's organisers offered last-minute places in their race, as a replacement trial.