Whitehead returns to his first love at IPC World Cup
However well he runs at the 2014 Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday, Richard Whitehead has already had a phenomenal year. The Paralympic T42 200m champion's diverse highlights of the last 12 months include winning the world 200m title last summer, completing 40 marathons in 40 days for his charity fundraising project, ‘Richard Whitehead Runs Britain', and finishing runner-up in the reality TV diving show, ‘Splash'.
But it's the more traditional challenge of completing 26.2 miles that remains closest to his heart.
"The marathon represents who I am as a person and gives me the opportunity to show what I'm all about," said 37-year-old Whitehead, who ran a lifetime best of 2:42:52 in Chicago 2010, the quickest ever by a man in his class, and broke the official IPC world record to become last year's T42/43 IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup champion.
"The marathon is a really inclusive event where anyone can compete or spectate, and it's liberating to get involved," said Whitehead. "As athletes, the World Cup event gives us a great platform to showcase what we can do and highlights our ability. It's a legacy from London 2012."
After hosting what was widely acclaimed to be the greatest Paralympic Games ever in summer 2012, London was chosen by the IPC to launch the first Marathon World Cup last April, and events for visually and limb impaired competitors were added to a race-day programme that already included the well established wheelchair races.
Five inaugural winners of the IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup, including Whitehead, will return to the London Marathon this Sunday to defend their titles as the pioneering initiative expands in its second year with a new category of wheelchair race added to the schedule.
Like Whitehead, Ivonne Mosquera-Schmidt finds that doing one event is never quite enough. The US athlete finished second in the women's T11-13 race last year in 3:38:16, an official world record for the T11s.
A former dancer with the National Dance Institute in New York, who now combines triathlon with marathon running, she has some special memories from 12 months ago - and some less special ones too.
"Last year was an experience that will stay with me forever and I'm so grateful we were given the opportunity," said Mosquera-Schmidt. "The support was phenomenal and that's what we all need when we're out there.
"Knowing I have all of those memories and remembering the good ones - not so much the speed humps - I can relax.
"The cheering from the sidelines was a noise I won't forget. At one time it got so loud I could hardly hear my guide, but you can't knock it as it gives you so much energy."
Her guide, Ryan Purcell, a 2:40 marathon runner, will also play his part.
For Bob Matthews - a former British international athlete now living in and competing for New Zealand - the London Marathon is an opportunity to return to his roots.
"This is the first time I've competed for New Zealand in running, although I still feel very British," said Matthews, who won 13 Paralympic medals for Britain at five Games between 1984 and 2000, including a marathon silver in Sydney. "It's my first international running vest since 2006 and I'm just so chuffed to be here. I'm looking forward to it."
While a PB is no longer on the cards for the 52-year-old following a bout of plantar fasciitis, Matthews said it would be an important occasion nonetheless.
"My wife and my two children are here with me and it's the first time they'll have seen me compete internationally," said Matthews, who's also an international cyclist. "The crowd support was incredible when I last took part and it's grown every year since. It's going to be a very special event for me."
The talented trio have more than just athletic ability in common, however, and were politely described as ‘aged' athletes, by Whitehead. So how do they stay motivated to train?
"We may no longer be able to run every day but understanding that, and knowing that recovery daysare actually recovery days, and that hard sessions can then really be hard, is so important," said Mosquera-Schmidt. "Cross training also helps take the stress out of your joints and helps you take a mental break on the way to achieving your goals."
Whitehead said that as he's got older he's learned to train smarter: "Recovery is very important, it's as important as training," he said. "So is having a team around you that you can trust.
"I work with a ‘ladder of success' approach, with small, achievable goals at the bottom of the ladder. When I achieve those small goals I move up a rung. At the top of the ladder is my season or career goal."
While the marathon might not be at the top of Whitehead's ladder right now as he prepares for the forthcoming track season, it's not a million miles away either. When the time comes, however, he might have some additional ‘minor' hurdles to overcome.
"My marathon best is 2:42, but I'm a bit heavier now than I was then. Last year I ran 3:15:53," he said, managing expectations ahead of the weekend. "As an elite marathon runner you need to be very lean, but for the track I need to be working hard and lifting quite heavy weights in the gym.
"While I wouldn't change my Parlaympic Games 200m title for the world, I've got unfinished business in the marathon. I've definitely got more in me and I'd like to run another fast marathon, but to do that I'd have to lose ‘the guns' [his famous biceps], and I'm not sure my S&C [strength and conditioning] coach and wife would be too happy about that."
For now, all three are focused on 26.2 miles of road, and the freedom and energy that brings.
