England Marathon Team Selections
England Athletics are pleased to announce the athletes who have been selected to represent England this autumn over the marathon distance for the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon (28 October) and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (21 October). Both the Frankfurt and Toronto marathons are IAAG Gold Label events that attract high quality competition and England Athletics are delighted to be working with the organiser of both events in providing competition opportunities for England internationals.
Selected to represent England at the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon are:
- Matt Sharp (club: Team Spy, coach Geoff Watkin)
- Aaron Scott (club: Lincoln Wellington AC, coach: Nick Anderson)
- Steve Bayton (club: Hallamshire Harriers, coach: Phil Nichol)
- Dani Nimmock (club: City of Norwich AC, coach: Pauline Ash)
- Emily Waugh (club: Rugby & Northampton AC, coach: Nicholas Garner)
All five athletes have previously represented England on the roads at marathon or half-marathon. Scott, Bayton and Sharp all both posted fast qualifying standards last autumn and are looking forward to building on those performances in Frankfurt. Waugh posted a 2:38:43 in the heat of Dubai in January, whilst Nimmock clocked 2:38:22 at Manchester this April.
England Athletics' commitment to raising standards at the marathon means that in addition to Frankfurt a team will also be travelling across the pond to Toronto this autumn for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. A less experienced team - but with great potential - will get to taste international competition at this high-quality race providing the athletes with a fantastic opportunity to step up to international competition.
The team for Toronto includes the following athletes:
- James Westlake (club: Crawley AC, coach: Allison Benton)
- Henry Pearce (club: Tonbridge Ac, coach: Alan Storey)
- Helen Davies (club: Ipswich Jaffa, coach: Clive Sparkes)
- Hayley Carruthers (club: Rotherham Harriers, coach: Gary Warhurst)
Westlake has only recently given up his first love of football to concentrate on developing his potential as a runner. He was 4th in the England Championships at London clocking 2:24:19 in the challengingly warm conditions that all runners faced that day will make his England debut. Henry Pearce who has notable recent bests at both the Half-Marathon and 10 miles, has been planning his step up to the marathon over the last 12 months under the guidance of Alan Storey.
Helen Davies won Brighton in the spring to add to her 2017 victory in the same race and has only been back running competitively this last 18 months after a five-year break to start a family. She will be looking to recapture some of her 2012 form that saw her clock a best 2:34:11. Meanwhile, Hayley Carruthers makes a big step up to international competition for the first time. She clocked a modest a 2:47:47 at London but like Westlake was 4th of the English athletes in the Championship - rare at London, and coping as well as anyone in the difficult conditions. What’s more, she has only been running competitively for around 12-18 months and at 24 years of age shows the potential to progress considerably over the coming years.