Belfast Marathon winner Paul Pollock may race the distance again in the coming weeks to attempt to qualify for one of this year’s major championships.
Pollock’s win in Belfast was his second marathon in three weeks after a chest infection forced him to drop out of the Rotterdam Marathon at 30 kilometres.
His situation is complicated by his partner Sophie being due to give birth to the couple’s second child.
“There are options if I did want to target another marathon,” said Pollock.
Speaking to Radio Ulster’s Sportsound Extra Time, the two-time Olympian added: “The championship qualifying window doesn’t close for another six to eight weeks.
“My fitness hasn’t changed that much but obviously you still need to recover from the effort of yesterday.
“We’ll wait and see how I feel in a week or two but it all depends how things go with family first of all.”
North Belfast hills ‘take their toll’
Pollock’s official winning time on the difficult Belfast course was two hours, 16 minutes and 15 seconds.
The European Championships qualifying mark is 2:14.30 – some four minutes and five seconds slower than his personal best set in 2019 – while the Commonwealth Games standard is a tougher 2:13.00.
As he approached the Rotterdam Marathon on 10 April, Pollock believed even the World Championship standard of 2:11.30 was going to be within his compass but his ailment in the week prior to the race badly hindered him in the Netherlands.
“I was in fantastic shape. I had pretty much both eyes on the Irish record of 2:09.15 and the plan was always to go to Rotterdam which is always traditionally a much faster course and you’ve got a good group of pacers to kind of pull around that little bit.
“But typically the week before it I got a very bad chest infection. I started the race and I knew immediately that the energy levels weren’t there so I pulled out at about 30 kilometres.”
After that, Pollock considered running in the Hamburg Marathon on 24 April but with the arrival of the couple’s second child imminent, he instead opted to race in his home city.
However with Sophie’s due date on Saturday, Pollock wondered whether he would in fact take to the startline in Belfast.
When he did, Paul thought the European standard, in particular, could be within his grasp when he reached halfway in under 67 minutes but “the hills of north Belfast” then began to take their toll – particularly in the closing miles up the Ormeau Road and down the Ravenhill Road.
“I thought I was on for a good time up until the last few miles but that said, to win a marathon is fantastic.
“I live about a mile away from the finishing line and to have all my family and friends there was an absolutely fantastic feeling.
“I was in a lot pain going up the Ormeau Road at 24 or 25 miles but you still think of those people who have supported you and got you there.
“Coming down the Ravenhill Road in the last mile, it was just ‘get home, get the head down’ and crossing the finish line with all the support really was a fantastic feeling.
“There are plenty of pubs on the Ormeau Road anyway and it was great to see so many people out and about pretty much all the way up the hill.
“It was fantastic support and I think a lot of people realised I was from Belfast and it was great they cheered me the whole way round.”
Sophie and two-year-old son Theo were among family members and friends supporting her at various points on the Belfast course.
“They actually ran down the finish line as well so if anyone saw a heavily pregnant woman running with a pram and a two-year-old towards the finish that was Sophie and Theo.”
