Written for publication in the Jewish Chronicle on 14th April 2006

Click here to see a screen shot of the published article

This year, the London Marathon is 25 years old. Each year, the Jewish Chronicle records the exploits of around 80 Jewish men and women of all ages and sizes, who have run, walked or staggered the 26 and a bit miles to raise thousands of pounds for their chosen charities, and to prove to themselves that they can do it. But have there been any real athletic stars amongst these? Here we meet three:

Marathon Mum

Danielle Sanderson didn't 'do' sport at school. Uncommonly bright and academic, she gained a full-fees scholarship to Brighton and Hove High School, achieved 'A's and Distictions in her 'O', 'A' and 'S' levels, and won an Exhibition to Oxford University to study Physics. This eventually led to Danielle lecturing in Programming and Business Skills for a multi-national consultancy.

One of the business skills Danielle taught was goal-setting. And so, to put theory into practice, Danielle set herself two goals in 1989: to appear on the ITV brains-and-brawn show 'The Krypton Factor', and to run the 1990 London Marathon. Danielle was one of the 36 who made it through to the 'Krypton Factor' from the 11,500 who applied, and she won the 'Mental Agility' round. With similar dazzling success, she took up running in 1989 at age 26, and completed the 1990 London Marathon in 2 hours, 50 minutes.

From that point on, Danielle's running career progressed rapidly, with scarcely an interruption for her first pregnancy (she was still racing 13 days before giving birth to Joseph in June 1991, and she re-commenced tranining 11 days after giving birth). Her first race for Great Britain was the Crete Marathon in 1992, which she won, having acclimatised herself for what turned out to be 91 degree heat by training wearing three thermal vests and a rain suit. She was the first English lady in the World Marathon Cup in 1993, and first British lady in the Marathon at the European Championships in 1994 – and also the only competitor in the entire race to set a personal best (2 hours, 36 minutes). Her many international appearances also included representing Britain in the Marathon at the World Championships in 1997, and coming 6^th in the Commonwealth Games Marathon in 1998, after which she retired from international athletics. Her five London Marathon appearances had included three times placing as second English woman, third British woman.

During 2000, Danielle learned that the 55 mile London to Brighton race was to fall on the 19^th anniversary of her father's death. Having grown up in Brighton, Danielle was drawn to the race as a memorial to her father. She ran the race, and won it. "I thought after that, that it would be nice to be an international again, so I resolved to run five ultras – races longer than a marathon". Of these five, four were over a distance of 100 kilometres – a distance that requires mind-over-matter to take over when the body's energy stores are used up. In the 2003 European 100 kilometre Championship, Danielle was third lady and first veteran. Danielle's final ultra was the 2004 European 50 kilometre Championship, which she won in a World Best time for a veteran – a World Best that she still holds. "I also hold – unofficially - a World Record for racing 3000 metres while six months pregnant with twins Hannah and Miriam!"

The Yeshiva Boy

Professor Daniel Felsenstein, 48, is the Director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I met him in February during a trip he made to give two lectures on Town Planning at London University. He combines the greying hair and intelligent, bespectacled face of an academic, with the pencil-slim physique of a marathon runner. As a 24 year old student at University College London, he came 40^th in the first London Marathon in 1981 in the excellent time of 2 hours, 22 minutes, 49 seconds. The following year, by this time taking a Masters Degree at the Hebrew University and competing for Israel, he ran the second London Marathon one minute faster. In each of the years 1981, 1982 and 1983, he came second in the Israeli Marathon Championships at Lake Kineret, with a best time of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 18 seconds.

Daniel began running, and winning, as soon as he started secondary school, though his was not a school normally noted for high athletic achievement – Hasmonean Boys' in Hendon. Nonetheless, he was soon winning local and county cross-country competitions, and was spotted by Brian Smith, coach for Shaftesbury Barnet Athletic Club. So it was that at age 14, Daniel was leaving his 'Yeshiva Stream' Sunday morning classes early, to go on to training sessions at nearby Copthall Stadium.

In those early days, Daniel was a 400 metre and 800 metre runner. But as he grew older he found himself competing in longer races, until in 1981 he found himself in the field for the first London Marathon. "My coach was Alf Wilkins, the foremost Jewish distance-running coach in the country. I didn't really alter my training regime to prepare for the marathon. I only did a long run of 20 miles or so every four or six weeks to convince myself that I could last the distance. But other than that, my training sessions comprised either 10 mile runs or hard track sessions."

Most marathon runners dread "The Wall", that point at around 20 miles where they suddenly find that their muscle energy stores are all used up. For Daniel, this was not a problem. "Sure, the end of the race is tough. But I never really experienced the Wall, except on my last Kineret Marathon. But I was running through a gale that day."

After 1983, a house-move, a new baby and pressure of work caused Daniel to drift out of running. After a more-than-twenty-year interval, he stepped into his running shoes again in 2004. The day before our interview, he had run the Wokingham Haf-Marathon in the impressive time of 1 hour, 20 minutes. But Daniel is not planning on running the full marathon distance again. "I am lucky enough to have been injury-free throughout most of my running career. That's the way I would like it to stay!"  

The Miler Supreme

James Espir, 47, was born to be an athlete. His whole family were athletes - his uncle Brian Smouha ran for Great Britain, maternal grandfather Teddy Smouha was an Olympic bronze medallist, and paternal grandfather Louis Espir ran a four-and-a-half minute mile in 1913. James himself excelled at running at Harrow School, and was spotted by Harry Wilson, coach to the world's greatest miler at that time, Steve Ovett. Under Harry's inspirational guidance, James embarked on a rigorous training schedule with Steve Ovett and other world-class athletes.

His athletic achievements were astonishing. At the age of 18, he was the UK Junior 3000 metres champion both indoors and outdoors, and was already a full senior international. As a 21 year old in 1980, he ran 1500 metres in 3 minutes 38.2 seconds, a time which would have stood as a British Record ten years previously. The following year James ran a mile in 3 minutes 56.7 seconds, making him the fastest Jewish miler ever. In the 1981 Maccabia World Championships in Tel Aviv, he won the 1500 metres and 5000 metres Gold Medals on successive days, and two days later set an Israeli All-comers' record at 1500 metres.

Yet even achievements such as these did not give full credit to his potential. For example, James' 3:56.7 mile was a front-running effort battling the winds of Cardiff, in the prestigious Emsley Carr Mile. James never found himself in the sort of paced race in perfect conditions that would lead to a world-class time. But more agonisingly, James was always treading a fine line between supreme fitness and injury. He trained punishingly hard, and injuries followed, taking away James' enjoyment of the sport. James retired from competition after retaining his Maccabia 1500 metres title in 1985, and pursued a career in banking.

Nonetheless, through the years of building a successful career and raising a family, James still ran every day without fail. In 2003, at age 45, James formed the notion that he would like to run the Marathon. James built up to the challenge by competing in shorter road races, and then ran the Florence Marathon in December 2003. "I hit the wall at 20 miles and had a miserable run in from there, but still finished in 2 hours 54 minutes". James then prepared for the London Marathon in April 2004.

The day of the London Marathon 2004 was notable as one when any prayers for rain were answered in abundance. The conditions were so slippery that the two leading runners slid into each other and fell. James also stumbled at the cobbles near the Tower of London, and stress-fractured his hip and four vertebrae of his back. He finished in agony in 2 hours 47 minutes and 3 seconds, having lost up to a quarter of an hour over the last few miles because of his injury. The fractures he sustained that day put him out of running for ten months, after which he returned to track racing.

When I interviewed James, he was looking forward to receiving the all-clear to train again, after a bone-graft operation on his foot last year. His medical history could serve as an encyclopaedia of athletic injuries and their treatment. Despite this, the last two years have been the most enjoyable ones of James' career. "My two children are now grown up, and I have the time to train as I like. In 2004 I sold my banking business, and last year I set up a Sports Agency managing East African athletes. Running is my passion and it is now my line of work. It couldn't have worked out better."

My Story

I took up the challenge of the London Marathon in 1990 and, despite the chastening experience of hitting the wall, was pleased to finish in under 3 hours. My son Daniel then ran the London Mini-Marathon the following year and several subsequent years. He ran the full London Marathon for each of the seven years 1999 to 2005, raising several thousand pounds for British Emunah. As did the runners I have written about, he strove to fulfill his potential at the distance, recording a time of 2 hours, 51 minutes in 2004. He died last November at age 27, and this article is dedicated to his memory. On Sunday I will tackle the London Marathon again in Daniel's memory.