JENNY Spink goes into the Toronto Marathon tomorrow (SUNDAY) with her confidence sky-high after just being awarded her first Great Britain vest for the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships.
The 34-year-old Bristol & West AC runner flew to Canada earlier this week the sole representative fo
r the England women’s team, knowing that her form is better than it has ever been following her superb personal best of 73mins 01secs at the trials race in Cardiff.
That performance strongly suggests that her marathon best of 2:37.35, which she ran in London earlier this year, is under serious threat if the conditions in Toronto, where the wind whipping in off Lake Ontario can be a factor, are benign.
“Jenny is going very well and getting better with every race,” said her coach Bruce Tulloh.
“If she can run 2hrs 36mins that would be great and 2:35 something would be even greater. She is certainly full of confidence and her preparations have gone really well.”
The current UK Rankings are headed by 36-year-old Sonia Samuels, who took advantage of the super-fast Berlin event last month to run 2:28.08. If Spink can break 2:36 she will move from eighth to fifth in the county – a sub 2:35.30 clocking would put her fourth in the UK and leave her in an ideal place to challenge for the Olympics in Rio next year.
“Jenny has not started high mileage yet and can only get better,” added Tulloh.