Injury-free and set for marathon effort in London

Athletics: Ian O'Riordan talks to Mark Carroll on his return to marathon action after a frustrating spell of inactivity

As marathon debuts go, a time of two hours 10 minutes and 54 seconds will always sound impressive. The next logical step is to try to better it. Mark Carroll has been waiting a year and a half for his chance and Sunday morning in London will finally present it.

It's possible a lesser athlete would have jacked in the whole marathon thing had he endured what Carroll has since that run in New York back in November of 2002.

First he had to abandon plans to run Boston the following spring, and then a return trip to New York, both times because of serious injuries that threatened his prospects of running anywhere again. He lost out on major money too, easily a six-figure sum.

"That was a very frustrating time," he recalls. "Getting one injury on top of the other. You immediately begin to wonder what the future holds. You so desperately want to race, and I was all the time thinking about running faster than the 2:10:54. That was a very satisfactory run but not what I felt I was truly capable of achieving.

"The only answer in the end was patience, and getting to the right people for treatment. Eventually I managed to get back to pain-free running again and it was a fantastic feeling. And no matter how hard the training was then it never felt difficult."

Based in Providence, Rhode Island, Carroll recently turned 32 and for the last decade has been Ireland's best male distance runner. He holds, among other records, the national marks for 5,000 metres (13:03.93) and 10,000 metres (27:46.82).

His time from New York, where he finished a rewarding sixth, has already booked his place in the Olympic marathon in Athens in August and this enforced lay-off - firstly with a pelvic injury, then with a thigh-muscle problem - has whetted a fresh hunger for competition.

The London Marathon will put him back where he belongs: among the finest distance runners in the world. Twelve in the field have faster times, including Olympic champion Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia, but Carroll has his own expectations, and one eye on John Treacy's 16-year-old Irish record of 2:09:15.

"I've just had 10 weeks of real quality training down in Florida and I couldn't be happier at the way it worked out. Most of my long runs were 20 miles and a couple even longer, without neglecting the speed either because I probably lost a bit of that after missing out on the last two seasons of track racing. But I ran a lively 5km a couple of weeks ago just to test the waters and I was pleased with the outcome.

"I would not be disappointed with another 2:10 but at the same time I want to put myself in line to get 2:08. I think there are a few guys in there who will be going for such a time, which I believe is within my reach if I'm going well on the day.

"Up front I know they are going to be on world record schedule and I'm not about to get involved in the cut and thrust of that pace. Down the road I am thinking of 2:06 or 2:07 but I need a bit more experience for that and I'm prepared to wait and do what is necessary to get into that groove."

He's not running for charity either and with $295,000 in prize money on top of the appearance fees London will at least offer some financial compensation for the loss of the last 18 months. But after London Carroll will immediately shift his focus to Athens, where he has thoughts of running not only the marathon but also the 10,000 metres, provided of course he attains the qualifying standard in the latter.

"You never stop to think of the money you lost by not running in either Boston or New York because that's gone, over with. You had to keep looking forward and getting fit and healthy again.

"And I think a lot of people are moving away from the prospect of running the marathon in Athens because they seem to be very concerned about the heat and the humidity but that doesn't worry me."

Six other Irish men go in London hoping to get under the 2:15:00 qualifying time for Athens.

Martin McCarthy and Cian McLoughlin appear to have the best chances, while Peter Mathews, Gary Crossan, Pauric McKinney and Paulo Diaglio will need to produce something special. The other big hope, Séamus Power, has long since withdrawn with injury.

The men's race has a 9.45 start and is being shown live on BBC.