ATHLETICS: LONDON CALLING? Byrne, McCambridge and Jennings urge Athletics Ireland to make quick decision

WHAT BEGAN as a dream scenario for Irish distance running has turned into a selection nightmare, with three of the women qualified for the London Olympic marathon now pleading with Athletics Ireland to make the big wake-up call sooner rather than later.

Although four women have run under the necessary A-standard of 2:37.00, only three of them can be sent to London – the same as every other country – which inevitably means one missing out: their problem, however, is not finding out until June 12th, the date Athletics Ireland have set for nominating their marathon and race walk selections to the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), as originally agreed last year.

Three of the Irish women qualified – Linda Byrne, Maria McCambridge and Caitriona Jennings – yesterday outlined what they felt was the needlessly anxious wait, visibly frustrated at their enduring state of limbo. “I’m head-wrecked,” said McCambridge, who ran 2:36.37 in Rome on March 18th. “I just wish they’d let us know, I really think it’s unfair to keep us waiting.

“Because the delay does affect your training. If I’m not being selected I’d like to know now, get it over with, and maybe get ready for the European Championships, or target the 10,000 metres qualifying time. But right now I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to rock the boat, but in my personal opinion, yes, bring the selection forward.”

Jennings was the most recent qualifier with her 2:36.17 in Rotterdam on April 15th, and also believes a prompt decision would benefit everyone: “It’s just crazy,” said Jennings, who has also just taken four months leave of absence from work to prepare for London.

“I can understand if they’re trying to give everyone the chance to qualify. But if you’re going to qualify for the Olympic marathon you’d want to do it very soon, otherwise you’re just not going to recover.”

For Byrne, who was the first to qualify with her 2:36.26 in Dublin last October, which doubled as the national championship, there is probably the strongest claim on selection, yet she too believes Athletics Ireland has created an unnecessarily awkward wait, not helped by the vague qualifying criteria to begin with.

“Nearly every other country has their marathon team picked by now,” she said, “so it would have been fairer if we had our selection in the next couple of weeks. I know the selectors are in a tough position, but there would have been less hassle now if they had at least one automatic selection, say in the Dublin Marathon. The fact is that all of the girls that have got the qualifying time, or are trying for it, were all in the Dublin marathon anyway. But there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Pasty McGonagle, the Athletics Ireland team manager for London, reacted to these concerns last night, admitting they were “understandable”, but that all the athletes had already signed up to the London selection agreement.

“So as of now that selection criteria stands, hasn’t changed,” said McGonagle. “But if there is still any room for manoeuvre then that will have to be agreed with both Athletics Ireland and the OCI.

“We do understand the dilemma, although the selection criteria here doesn’t just apply to the women’s marathon, but other events too, and there could be a similar situation with the men’s 50km walk. So there are other issues to be considered.”

Byrne, McCambridge and Jennings were all speaking at the launch of the 2012 Dublin Marathon. Ireland’s fourth London qualifier in the women’s marathon, Ava Hutchinson, is based in England, and currently training in the US – linking up with her coach Ray Treacy at Providence – and for that reason was unable to attend the marathon launch. Most other countries have already agreed their marathon selections, including Kenya, who faced the truly nightmare scenario of leaving behind men’s world record-holder Patrick Makau, amongst others. The US Olympic Marathon trial was staged back in January, where the first three finishers – men and woman – were guaranteed selection, and Britain have also finalised their marathon selection, having declared the London Marathon, last Sunday week, as the last chance for potential qualifiers to show their worth.

Possibly complicating matters further is that Barbara Sanchez, who holds dual Irish-French citizenship and won the 2010 national title in Dublin, still plans to target the 2:37.00 A-standard in the Copenhagen Marathon, on May 20th, having recently returned from a lengthy period of injury.

All that is certain, for the time being, is that the Athletics Ireland selection criteria for all events where more than three athletes have attained the A standard is based on the following five guidelines: consistency and repeatability of performances in 2011/12; relevant statistical data/rankings; athletes “on-demand” performances at previous championships; competitive record of athletes against one another; and athletes “final phase” readiness.

Trying to apply all that to Olympic marathon selection seems a bit of a nightmare in itself.