Hallissey takes last spot in Olympic marathon

The 29-year-old was yesterday handed the third and final spot available for women alongside Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi following her impressive personal best in yesterday’s Virgin London Marathon.

The Watford-born athlete, who now lives in Arlington, Virginia, clocked two hours 27 minutes 44 seconds in an “all or nothing” performance to finish 11th on the capital’s streets.

That display won her selection for Team GB ahead of Jo Pavey, who had the ‘A’ qualifying standard from last year’s race but whose gamble to sit out this year’s event in the hope no one was able to better her time backfired – Hallissey went 40 seconds quicker than her compatriot.

It also meant disappointment for Scotland’s Freya Murray, who also eclipsed Pavey’s time by finishing an excellent 13th on her marathon debut at the weekend in 2hrs 28mins 10secs but had to play second fiddle to Hallissey.

“I talked to Paula [Radcliffe] a little bit [at altitude training in Iten, Kenya, earlier this year]. In some ways it was nice to see she is just a normal person,” Hallissey said. “Obviously her racing performances are quite scary and quite daunting, but as an actual person she’s very friendly and very chatty which is nice.

“Seeing the times that Paula has been able to run, it is an inspiration that a British runner can go out and get those kind of times. You hope somewhere down the line you might be able to hit those times and be competitive with the African runners.”

The Cambridge graduate, who admitted being the first Briton across the line at the Olympics would be “quite an ask”, was studying for her degree in natural sciences when Radcliffe set her world record of 2hrs 15mins 25secs at the 2003 London Marathon. Indeed, she has only been a full-time athlete for one-and-a-half years since completing her PhD in mucosal immunology at Bristol.

“It’s immunology of the tonsils basically,” said Hallissey, who moved out to the United States after finishing her thesis because her husband Matt had a job over there. I basically chopped up tonsils. I always tell people that’s what I spent most of my PhD doing.”

Joining Hallissey at London 2012 will be Leeds runner Dave Webb, who was yesterday named in the men’s race alongside the already-selected Scott Overall. The 30-year-old chartered accountant did not take part in yesterday’s race, choosing to rely on his 15th place and personal best of 2:15.48 from last summer’s World Championships in Daegu.

And he admitted watching the event unfold on TV was a nail-biting experience. It’s been a nerve-wracking few days, watching the London Marathon and seeing how the results went there so it’s part relief, part joy to be picked,” said Webb, who admits fitting twice-daily training runs around his full-time job is a challenge.

“Its been a long six or seven months. It was a bit of a gamble not doing the London Marathon, but I felt that in order to be at my best for the Olympics it was probably the best strategy.

“I was sat in front of the television with a group of friends. I was a little bit fidgety, struggling to sit still.”