Monday 8th March 2004

Adidas Flora London Half Marathon
Silverstone March 7

Tipton's Matt Smith (66:57) and Belgrave Harrier Birhan Dagne (75:54) emerged triumphant in the second adidas Flora London Half Marathon at Silverstone racetrack Sunday March 7.

In preparation for his bid for an Olympic marathon ticket in London April 18, Smith's plan was to tick off 5min10sec miles over a blustery course. "We got what we came for," said a satisfied Smith, referring to coach George Gandy's advice not to expend too much energy with the all-important London date only weeks away.

"Longer tempos are planned from now on," explained the Loughborough based Smith. "It is important to get to the marathon getting better."
Snow preceded the race start at midday but it was dry when the 6,335 finally got under way. But the wind was the ultimate arbiter in Matt O'Dowd's inaugural course record of 65:41 surviving for another year.

Runaway National Cross Country champion Dagne was outside Amy Stiles' 2003 benchmark of 75:11, crossing the line 13th overall.

An asylum seeker after the World Cross Country Championships in Durham nine years ago, the Ethiopian gained British citizenship four years later. Dagne gave birth to a son, Ammanuel, 11 months ago and decided to revive an athletics career blighted by injury. She started training four months after giving birth, spending the first month in the gym before returning to Ethiopia to train.

The policy paid off when she returned two weeks ago to crush the opposition in the National Cross Country championships, crossing the line 120 metres clear.

A debutante for London, Dagne returned to Addis Ababa hours after finishing at Silverstone in order to continue her marathon preparation.

Click here for 2004 results