Why I’m withdrawing from the London Marathon and quitting the World Marathon Majors
By: Ian Firla
Tags: Running, World Marathon Majors, Respect, Athletics, Marathon

A bit of background: 14 years ago, I weighed 96 kg and was seriously out of shape. Life, work and a myriad of other good excuses meant I’d let myself go. I wasn’t happy about it but doing something about it wasn’t a priority.

I don’t know what compelled me to step out the door the first time with a pair of trainers on and go for a jog around the park but as soon as I did, I was back in love with running for the first time since my school days. I ran the 2.5km loop of the park in around 15 minutes — surprisingly quick — and felt amazing for it.

Over the next 9 or so months, I gradually built up my strength and stamina until I was running 10ks each time I went out. A friend suggested that I sign up for and train for a half marathon. I did and about 18 months after running that first 2.5 km around the park, I was toeing the line at the Warsaw Half Marathon which I ran in a respectable 1 hour and 50 minutes.

I was hooked and studying Marathon training plans. I knocked out my first marathon in a time of 3:40 at the age of 42, the next one came in at 3:30 and my ambitions and appetite grew from there. Suddenly the Boston Qualifying time which back then for my age group was around 3:15 came on to the horizon and I knew I needed to go for it. The BQ time fell, and running sub 3:00 was the next target as was securing all 6 of the Abbott World Marathon Majors (Boston, New York, Chigago, Berlin, London and Tokyo).

I was really into it. I finally broke 3:00 by running a 2:57:16 in Berlin and then, amazingly, matching exactly that time to the second in Rome! My training ramped up as did my spending on shoes and gear. I was putting in 120 km weeks, focusing on my diet and nutrition. I felt great. My weight went down to 73kg and I was strong and fit.

I ran a 2:55 in Chicago and then a 2:52 in Tokyo. I trained more, I trained harder.

I’d never been so committed to sport in my life and I loved it! We had moved to Bromley in the UK and I had signed myself and my kids up to one of the greatest and oldest athletics clubs in the world: Blackheath and Bromley Harriers. Their passion for track and field took off as did mine. The kids and I signed up for everything: cross country races, track competitions… if it had a start line and a finish, we were up for it!

I started supporting the coaches at the club and got my initial coaching level certification to be able to do it more formally. I got involved with team management as well as the coaching and I guess because of my enthusiasm and commitment, I was honoured with being nominated to be a Vice President of the club.

I saw, first hand, how much an organisation like Blackheath and Bromley could do for athletes. I understood how much the passion and commitment and RESPECT for the athletes, whatever their level, could do for them to help them not only in athletics but in all aspects of their lives.

I was on such a high. A few months before the pandemic hit, I’d run a 2:50 in Valencia… the 2:40s were coming! I was on the cusp of running a marathon over an hour faster than my first one. Inconceivable!

Then the pandemic came and with everything locked down and with fewer distractions, I could up my mileage and train even harder. I wanted to break 2:50. I was in the shape of my life despite having turned 50. Virtual races came up and I enthusiastically engaged the club in as many of them as I could convince people to take part in. I was out in the park with my kids and other young athletes when the rules said we could train in small groups but not on the track. We all worked hard and the efforts were paying off. Everyone was getting stronger and faster and the sessions in the park were a welcome break from the solitude of the lockdowns.

The London Marathon went virtual and myself and few other members of the club took up the challenge of running it by doing 23 laps of Norman Park. I shattered the 2:50 target running a 2:46. I was over the moon and unstoppable! I’d also somehow lucked myself into winning the Club marathon title that year … perhaps the only one willing to go so hard in a virtual race … but at the age of 50, you take what titles you can get and I can’t wait to see my name on the trophy alongside some truly great runners!

Feeling on top of the world and with new targets in sight, I was really excited to read that the Abbott World Marathon Majors were organising a virtual race with the top runners in each age group being selected for the Abbott WMM Age Group World Championship. I was thrilled! Finally a chance to put all the time and energy I had spent on training to something that could get me a chance to perform at a world championship — not THE world championship — but something pretty serious being put together by the most respected organisation in marathoning.

I got myself into gear with my training, confident that I could go well under 2:50 again and hopefully secure myself one of the coveted spots in the championship when in person racing returned. Once again, myself and a few of my teammates from the club toed the virtual start line in Norman Park and we kicked off on another 23 lap adventure. I didn’t PB but I’d run a solid 2:48 and watched and waited as the results came in from around the world until the clock ran out on the virtual race weekend and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I was in having finished in 8th or 9th place in the M50 category! The email arrived at last:

I couldn’t wait to find out when and where the race would be held. I badgered the Abbott World Marathon Majors crew with emails and was told to be patient as the destination and date hadn’t yet been decided.

The London Marathon then announced that on October 3 the marathon was returning as an in-person event. I couldn’t wait to run it. I wasn’t going to try for a PB on this occasion. I wanted to run well and enjoy the race but training for a PB takes a lot out of you and my summer was too busy for it and, in any case, I was saving myself for 2022 and the World Marathon Championships for which I’d qualified. I read and follow enough elite runners and have enough experience with over 25 marathons under my belt to know that you can’t just rock up and run for a PB every marathon. You have to target your races because of how demanding the training is to achieve your best.

I picked up a niggle with my hamstring racing on the track and had to dial back my training. I was still looking forward to London and getting gentle miles in but with a seriously modified target of going sub 3:00 to maintain my streak of sub 3 hour marathons but definitely not going for anything like a PB pace. My focus was going to be to secure a Good For Age for London 2022 and avoid injury so that I could train for the Age Group Championships for when the date and location was finally announced.

And then a couple of days ago, less than 3 weeks before the London Marathon, I got this email signed by Hugh Brasher the event director for the Virgin Money London Marathon:

How utterly, utterly insulting to me and all the other athletes who sacrificed so much time and effort to train to qualify for something that is then handed out like discount coupons on the high street. How completely disrespectful to the time, money and commitment that we have made in the now admittedly naive belief that we had made it to some level of our sport where we could feel like we were being admitted to an elite-like level of competition.

I’m a fool for allowing myself that delusion and I’m grateful to Hugh Brasher and the Abbott World Marathon Majors for allowing me to indulge in that delusion for so long. I’m less grateful for how abruptly they have dissuaded me from it but perhaps it’s this demonstrable crassness, abruptness and lack of respect that I needed.

So this is my farewell to the “big city” marathons, not to running and competition. It gives me too much pleasure to take part in these things. But I’m going to focus instead on the club which embodies respect and local competition. I’m going to run cross-country and local mob matches. And I’m going to venture out into track and field and explore the world of jumping and throwing which has been calling me siren-like from the fringes of the running circuit… there’s even something called the decathlon that’s put its head above the parapet… tempting as well.

But what do all of these things have in common that’s antithetical to the Big City Marathons? A respect for ALL of their athletes, regardless of ability, irrespective of sponsorship. This is the community that I yearn for and where I’m heading next. Watch this space.