Mo Marathon Champion

Is that something Lollipop and I will ever say? Today the 2012 Olympic Gold medallist over 5,000m and 10,000m finished eighth in the London Marathon in 2:08:21 seconds.

Kenyan Wilson Kipsang finished four minutes after the champ with a course record 2:04.27 seconds.  But when you hold the world record of long distance running with a time of 2:03:23 set in the 2013 Berlin Marathon you can’t really compare these two athletes.

The record breaker stayed among the lead pack until he and countryman Stanley Biwott broke away with just over six miles remaining.

Then in the last two miles, Kipsang surged past the 2012 Paris champion to eventually finish 26 seconds ahead of his rival.

Despite this being Farah’s first competitive marathon he was up against athletes who run up to four a year. Farah finished second  in his last two half-marathons The Great North Run and in New York. He was a debutant amongst leaders which is not his usual role as a track and field champ. So it was no surprise he elected to sit among the second pack of elite runners and made costly errors at two drinks stations when he tried to pick up fluids.

After the race Farah admitted his frustrations and said: “It was pretty tough. I’m quite disappointed but you try things and if they don’t work, at least you gave it a go. It was really just the pace – I should have gone with the front group. The pacemakers I had were slightly ahead of me but you learn – life goes on.”

Lollipop and I definitely believe he can go on. Despite the obvious gap in strength and experience Farah set the fourth fastest time and a new English record.

Olympic Bronze medallist and commentator Brendon Foster said: “I hope Mo stays on the track, runs the shorter distances and defends his title in Rio. I just think this is too much of an unknown territory for Mo.”

But the Somali born English international believes he can improve. When asked if he would do another marathon he added: “Yeah, definitely, 100%. I’m not going to finish it like this. I will be back.”

If Mo had the will to become the first Briton to ever win a long-distance double at the European Championships why can’t he change his game and return to London in 2015 just as strong and tireless as Kipsang?

As Brits Lollipop and I know how frustrating it is to see our athletes just miss out but if Farah competes in just as many marathons as his new rival he could achieve the impossible.

Our Olympic champ was one out of approximately 36,000 runners who took part in the race and although he did not make history the London Marathon was not made for that but for everyone that turned up and raced together for great causes.

Farah made the right choice to make his debut in his home country but now he needs to go on and prove this was not a mistake in a fantastic athletic career.