Susan Partridge is preparing for the women’s marathon at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games by running the Bupa Great Women’s Glasgow 10k this Sunday.
The 34-year-old Scot has chosen the race as the next step in her competitive preparation for the 42km marathon distance at her home nation’s Games on Sunday 27 July.
A fortnight ago she was runner-up to England’s Gemma Steel in the ten-mile Bupa Great Edinburgh Run.
No Scotswoman has ever won a marathon medal at a Commonwealth Games. Only two have ben close, Karen Macleod finishing fourth in Victoria, Canada, in 1994, and Lorna Irving fifth in Edinburgh back in 1986.
Partridge herself came home in 10th place in the last Commonwealth Games women’s marathon in Delhi four years ago.
‘I think if you’re capable of running 2 hours 30 minutes in the Commonwealth Games then you ought to be thinking of medals,’ said Susan, pictured here by Jeff Holmes.
‘You’ve got to have some kind of ambition going into it. That’s not to say you’re being unrealistic.
‘Some of the Kenyans they’ve announced in their squad are really quality runners. If someone in the race is capable of running 2 hours 20 minutes and everyone else is thinking maybe they could go under 2:30, then realistically, they are probably the favourite.
‘But things can happen in a race, especially in a marathon, and you’ve got to be ready when the opportunity presents itself.
‘What you look at on paper and what happens in championship races are very different things. The World Championships, last year, proved that.’
The women’s marathon at the World Championships in Moscow, last August, was won by Edna Kiplagat, who also prevailed in a sprint finish in the London Marathon last month. Kiplagat has been named as one of seven runners from which Kenya will select a trio for the 26.2 mile event in Glasgow.
The second Commonwealth athlete across the line in the Russian capital was Partridge.
She finished 10th, becoming only the fifth British woman to achieve a top ten position, after Joyce Smith, Sally Ellis, Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi. Such an achievement is testimony to the excellent progress she has made under the expert guidance of Steve Jones, holder of the British men’s marathon record.
Challenging Partridge on Sunday 11 May will be last year’s winner of the Bupa Great Womens 10k, Elspeth Curran, who ran 11 seconds shy of her personal best with a superb 34:59
minutes.
She is the current Renfrewshire road race champion and one of the ‘faces’ of the Commonwealth Games on posters around Glasgow.
Another local girl, Hayley Haining, will also be at the start line as she too prepares for the landmark event in the summer.
The 41-year-old was named by Team Scotland in midweek after twice running inside the 2 hours 40 required for Glasgow 2014.
Tags: Susan Partidge
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