Ultra runner and former army captain quietly confident of causing a surprise at the upcoming British Olympic Marathon Trials

Tom Evans has only ever competed in one marathon. His PB of 2:26:04 is just under eight minutes off the next fastest PB and is quite a long way off the Tokyo qualifying time of 2:11:30.

“That was an interesting day. I’d been in a 100km race four weeks before, hadn’t recovered and actually had a torn calf that wasn’t healed. Heaps of excuses! I’d written that one off,” he tells AW.

It’s not particularly surprising to learn that Evans had competed in a 100km race just before his first ever marathon. This is a man who competed in the Marathon des Sables – the 250km stage self-supported race across the Sahara Desert – off a drunken bet that he could finish higher than his friends in the army, who were already keen ultra runners and made it in the top 300. He finished third.

After almost a year in limbo due to the pandemic, Evans sees the marathon as the perfect challenge for his goal-orientated mindset and believes that his experience in ultra running could prove an advantage.

“I know what effort I need to run at and if I thought I was going to start out conservatively and be at the back I’d be lying. Do I plan on sprinting from the beginning and be the first athlete through 5km? No, I absolutely don’t. It’s a trial race and it’s the first two people who cross the line under 2:11.30 who go to the Olympics,” he says.

“My training has suggested I can go fast but there are a lot of uncontrollable factors in a marathon. Yes, I’m one of the least experienced in terms of races but in terms of the amount of miles in my racing, I’m probably the most experienced on the course. It’s the equivalent of 19 marathons that I’ve raced but only done one marathon.”

His meteoric rise in ultra running saw him leave the army in 2019. A year earlier he won the 101km CCC race at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) and broke the course record at the Coastal Challenge Costa Rica and the South Downs Way 50. Then, in his debut 100-miler, Evans broke the record for the fastest overseas time at the Western States race, clocking 14 hours 59 minutes.

“I feel like I’ve proved myself at the shorter distance of 5km running 13:41, racing for British Athletics at the (European) Cross-Country Championships, also at 100km distances, so for me that marathon is the missing piece in the puzzle. I think anything is possible,” he tells AW.

“Training has gone really well and will I race more marathons? I’ve got no idea what it could be after Friday! I might get half-way through the marathon and I hate it and think that I’m absolutely useless and go back to what I’m good at but for me this is an itch that I’ve got to scratch. I’m really looking forward to answering those questions that I’ve asked myself.”

Evans believes that he can replicate the mindset he takes into ultra running during the trials at Kew Gardens on Friday (March 26) and doesn’t want to put any pressure on himself.

“The mindset I have for ultra-running is that if my best is good enough to be the best then that’s great, but if my best isn’t good enough to be he best then fair play to whoever is the best. The great thing with endurance sport is you have a long time to decide that,” he says.

“You can very easily scroll through the marathon PBs and think this guy is 10 minutes slower than the next male in the race. For me, that’s great! Would I say that I was the underdog? No. But I have a very different background that’s never really been done before I guess.

“There are some ultra runners who have done well in the marathon but they’ve started with a conventional athletics background. I think it’s a huge unknown and I think if they see me in the lead group at 30km they may think that I really do have the speed and endurance.”

At the end of the day, Evans is just delighted to be participating in distance running once again and is thankful for the work that has been put in to making the race happen.

“Being cooped up for the last 12 months and having so much uncertainty with racing makes me incredibly thankful to British Athletics, Richmond Runfest and Tom Bedford for getting this event on. I dread to think how’s difficult it’s been to tick all the boxes and to get the green light for us to showcase the work we’ve put in.”