BRITISH ATHLETES OFFERED LONDON MARATHON EVENTS FUNDING FOR 2020

A total of 30 British athletes have been offered funding from London Marathon Events (LME) for the 2020 season as part of LME’s extensive and longstanding support of British endurance running.

Zak Seddon, the first British man to run in a world 3000m steeplechase final since 1993, Alexandra Bell, Marc Scott and Ben Connor are four athletes who continue on the LME programme for 2020.

The athlete programme is part of a larger £350,000 funding commitment from LME to British endurance running that includes support of British Athletics’ World Class Programme (WCP) and training camps for British endurance athletes.

LME has worked with British Athletics to select the nominated individual athletes and the funding is designed to provide a bridge for endurance runners to the WCP and to improve the standard of British endurance running across all distances.

In addition to the 15 athletes who are continuing on the funding programme, 15 new names have been added to the list including European under-23 silver medallist Piers Copeland, steeplechasers Rosie Clarke and Elizabeth Bird and Stephanie Davis, who last year ran the ninth fastest marathon time in history by a British woman.

The athletes were shortlisted by a panel of British Athletics and London Marathon Events endurance experts and range from middle-distance runners to marathon specialists. No athlete currently funded through the British Athletics WCP is eligible to receive London Marathon Events individual funding.

Hugh Brasher, Event Director of London Marathon Events, said: “We are passionate about effectively supporting British endurance running and the first year of this new initiative of funding individual athletes has produced good results.

“The aim of this funding was to provide a pathway for talented endurance athletes and these results show it is working. “We wish this year’s funded athletes every success and we hope to see a number of them on Team GB at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.”

The full list of athletes to be offered London Marathon Events funding is:

Mohamud Aadan (Thames Valley; Paul Oppe)

Charlotte Arter (Cardiff; Chris Jones)

Alexandra Bell (Pudsey & Bramley; Andy Henderson)

Elizabeth Bird (Shaftesbury Barnet; George Harrison)

Emile Cairess (Leeds City; Philip Townsend)

Hayley Carruthers (Birchfield Harriers; Daniel Robinson)

Rosie Clarke (Epsom & Ewell; Rob Denmark)

Natasha Cockram (Micky Morris Racing Team)

Jamaine Coleman (Preston; Helen Clitheroe)

Ben Connor (Derby)

Piers Copeland (Wimborne; Bob Smith)

Stephanie Davis (Clapham Chasers; Phillip Kissi)

Nick Goolab (Belgrave Harriers; Craig WInrow)

Derek Hawkins (Kilbarchan; Robert Hawkins)

Jake Heyward (Cardiff; James Thie)

Sarah Inglis (Lothian Running Club; Mark Bomba)

Tish Jones (Belgrave Harriers; Nick Anderson)

Matt Leach (Bedford & County; Philip O’Dell)

Jonny Mellor (Liverpool Harriers; Steve Vernon)

Amy-Eloise Neale (Wakefield District Harriers)

Jennifer Nesbitt (Cardiff; Chris Jones)

Verity Ockenden (Swansea Harriers; Tony Houchin)

Chris O’Hare (Edinburgh; Terrence Mahon)

Lily Partridge (Birchfield Harriers)

Marc Scott (Cambridge & Coleridge; Jerry Schumacher)

Zak Seddon (Bracknell; Jeff Seddon)

Jake Smith (Cardiff; James Thie)

Jenny Spink (Bristol & West; Bruce Tulloh)

Chris Thompson (Aldershot Farnham & District)

Alice Wright (Worcester; Ben Rosario)