Confident Carroll on the comeback trail in London Marathon

MARK CARROLL will line up for Sunday’s London Marathon happy in the knowledge that, for the very first time, he has prepared specifically for a marathon.

The 34-year-old Corkman is, arguably, the best male middle distance runner this country has ever produced and he has all the records to back this up. He holds the 3,000m record at 7:30.36, the 5,000m record at 13:03.93 and the 10,000m record at 27:46.82.

Apart from the records, he has run 3:34.91 for 1,500m and 3:50.62 for the mile and, for years, was one of the best non-African athletes on the circuit.

On Sunday, he may prove that he still has something to offer. It will not be his first appearance in the London showpiece, but he will draw on last year’s experience to go to the line not just a stronger, but a wiser athlete.

He made his marathon debut in New York in 2002 with the second fastest time by an Irishman - 2:10.54 - for a top six placing.

His next appearance in a marathon was London last year. He went into the race in what everyone thought was the shape of his life, but after running much of the early part of the race at world record pace he eventually had to drop out.

“I went through the first 10 miles in 48:06 and I paid dearly for it,” he recalled. “But this time I won’t be as extravagant - it will be more like 49 and a half minutes.

“I expect (Haile) Gebrselassie will be dragging some people through with him but there are a number of pacemakers and I will pick a group.

Since London last year it has been difficult for him. He was one of the athletes who lost their Sports Council grants and was so disgusted that he did not even bother to appeal the decision.

But he found himself back racing in the public eye. The highlight was his 60:30 in the BUPA Great North Run and he returned to the New York City Marathon full of hope on the back of that. Again things came apart and he failed to finish the race.

He married the American champion, Amy Rudolph, settled into a nice routine and got back to basics - the type of distance running that marathoners do.

“It meant I was not mixing track training with marathon training,” he said. “I felt a little different. I was not as sprightly as I was when I was doing track training, but I was feeling stronger and at the BUPA Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park the other week I was delighted to see that I had not lost that much speed at all.”

Now he feels that he may have found the answer and another national record could be on the cards. It would be a spectacular way to re-launch his career.