Athletics: Partridge and Samuels to head to Moscow

SUSAN Partridge and Sonia Samuels have been named on the Great Britain team for the marathon at the World Championships in Moscow in August, British Athletics has announced.

Partridge sealed her place with a ninth-placed finish at Sunday’s Virgin London Marathon in a personal best time of two hours 30 minutes 46 seconds.

Samuels achieved the qualifying standard at the Berlin Marathon last September.

British Athletics head coach Peter Eriksson said: “The performances at the weekend were very encouraging and I’m delighted to be able to select Susan Partridge and Sonia Samuels to represent GB & NI at the IAAF World Championships.

“Our endurance programme has already made a lot of progress and I’m confident that both athletes will perform well in Moscow and enable us to continue moving forwards.”

Derek Hawkins, who was the first British finisher in the London Marathon in 13th, has decided not to run the marathon and focus instead on the track.