Australia's Scott Westcott, Liam Adams and Michael Shelley after the men’s marathon in Rio.
FOUR marathons inside 12 months is far from the ideal preparation but it paid off for Liam Adams who was the first Australian home in his Olympic debut.
On a morning where the high humidity in Rio knocked the field around, Adams finished 31st in 2hr16min12sec ahead of Commonwealth champion Michael Shelley in 47th (2:18.06sec) with 40-year-old Scott Westcott coming in 81st (2:22.19sec).
“Position wise I am quite happy with that, I didn’t think I was going to be that high up,” Adams said.
“I blew up a fair bit, ran that middle stage a bit too hard and really felt the pinch at the end and went backwards very quickly.
“It was bloody tough out there, the toughest race I have done and time wise it was a bit disappointing.”
Pre-race favourite Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge took gold in 2:08.44sec from Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa (2:09.54sec) with American Galen Rupp, who ran in the 10,000m final eight days earlier, claiming bronze in 2:10.05sec.
Kipchoge, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist over 5000m, has now won seven of his eight career marathons.
Australia’s Liam Adams finishes the marathon in Rio.Source:News Corp Australia
Adams, 29, was forced to chase an Olympic qualifying mark and didn’t nail it until his fourth attempt on the final day before the selection deadline in Warsaw, Poland.
“It wasn’t the best qualifying period for myself, I had a couple of problems with my back causing hamstring issues and maybe it played a little bit of an effect today,” he said.
“That’s four marathons in the space of less than a year, not many Australians would do that.
“I tried to qualify in Chicago but twinged my hamstring at the 23km mark and limped the way home.
“Then there was Lake Biwa in Japan and the same thing happened but the opposite hamstring.
“I was on a decent pace and fell off very quickly and had to pull the pin at the 35km mark because I wanted to reset and give myself another chance at trying to qualify.
“I then just managed to do it on the last day of qualifying period in Warsaw.”
Shelley had an interrupted preparation with achilles issues in the lead-up which he says cost him. “But that’s marathon, you’re going to get niggles occasionally and that’s the way it is,” he said.
Just getting the opportunity to experience the Olympics Games had Westcott smiling from ear to ear afterwards.
“I am trying to take it all in because this is my one chance to do that,” he said. “I was pretty pleased just to hold it together today.”
The father of three from Newcastle thought his kids had probably fallen asleep back at home but he would definitely be watching the replay with them over and over again.
“The family is all back at home out at my mum’s place on the farm,” Westcott said. “They made special t-shirts apparently, that was the craft exercise today and they had ‘Go Daddy’ and whatever else on the T-shirts.”
Westcott admitted being in the athletes village had been an eye-opening experience.
“I am a little bit of a social media dinosaur,” he said. “A lot of the young kids they sit at dinner and half the time they’re looking at their screen, that’s a different way of interacting I suppose, plus I am double their age.
“In some ways they saw me as the old fuddy duddy as well, they were trying to teach me how to put a new sim into a phone and how to use some of the apps so they were mothering me a little bit which was fun.”
Originally published as No regrets for Aussie marathon men
