London Marathon: Radcliffe to put British male runners to shame

Given that Britain's fastest male marathon runner in tomorrow's Flora London race has a best that is more than a minute slower than Paula Radcliffe's world record of 2hr 17min 18sec, it looks embarrassingly likely that the Jim Peters Trophy, traditionally donated to the first Briton home, will end up in female hands.

Carl Warren, a 33-year-old estimator for a Birmingham construction firm, is the only British man entered this weekend whose best is under 2hr 20min. Twenty years ago, Britain had 93 sub-2.20 finishers in the race, providing five of the top 10 including the winner, Mike Gratton.

Since it was last won by a British man 10 years ago, by Eamonn Martin on his marathon debut, this capital event has become the traditional opportunity to bemoan the standards of our male distance runners.

In fairness, the apparent dearth of talent this year is partly due to the injury problems of Jon Brown, fourth in the last Olympics, and the absence of Mark Steinle, eighth last year in 2:09.17, because of illness.

Steinle's time was the fastest by a British man in London since 1985, when home runners – in the form of Steve Jones, Charlie Spedding and Allister Hutton – took the top three places. It was a performance of great promise but to put it into international context, Steinle was more than four and a half minutes adrift of last year's top three. And, Brown apart, there do not appear to be other Brits coming through right now capable of pushing Steinle onwards and upwards.

The London Marathon continues to be an annual mass homage to self-improvement, offering thousands the opportunity to focus mind and body on an enduring challenge. Hearing of the plans being laid this week by former boxer Michael Watson, who only left his wheelchair last year following the traumatic beating he received in his 1991 fight with Chris Eubank, was enough on its own to confirm the enduringly inspirational effect of an event whose own inspiration, Chris Brasher, died last month. Watson, who was told he would never walk or talk again after the brutal contest which left him with a blood clot on the brain, plans to walk the distance over five days to raise funds for the Brain and Spine Foundation.

Yet an event which was set up in part in order to inspire and stimulate élite British endurance running now appears to be signally failing in that respect. In particular it is the depth of talent that seems to have been lost. As has already been pointed out this week, Britain provided no male marathon runners at the last World and European Championships, and even when Radcliffe won last year's London on her debut the next British woman was more than 20 minutes adrift of her.

Real attempts at regeneration are being made at the recently established high performance centre for endurance running at St Mary's College, Twickenham, which is overseen by the experienced coaching eye of Alan Storey. Efforts are being made to encourage a cadre spirit and regular opportunities offered for warm weather training.

But with the highest profile St Mary's athlete being 18-year-old Charlotte Dale – whose 14th place in the junior women's section was Britain's best result at last month's World Cross Country Championships – there is still a way to go before it starts to impact positively upon the capital's mass run.

Inevitably, Radcliffe has been closely questioned over why she has managed to reach her current position from this apparent morass. Speaking earlier this week, she confessed: "It's a big issue and it is hard to see a solution.''

She added meaningfully that while efforts are being made to improve facilities and training opportunities for British distance runners, success was something that came from within. "You've got to be willing to push yourself hard,'' she said. "And that has to come from inside.''

The past year has offered enduring evidence of that quality within Radcliffe. In all her triumphs on track, field and road, what has impressed most is her dissatisfaction in victory. In Munich, she was unhappy that she didn't break 30 minutes for the 10,000 metres. In winning her marathon debut in London last year, she expressed chagrin at having missed the world best by nine seconds. Even when she established the current world best of 2:18.17 in Chicago six months ago, she revealed this week, she crossed the line cross after failing to pass a male runner she had targeted in the closing stages.

"I was really annoyed he got there before me,'' she said with a rueful chuckle. "It's a competitive instinct.''

Which is why Britain may have to wait another 10 years for a male winner in London. You can coach an athlete but you can't coach an instinct.