Friedrich can’t believe his luck as springtime jinx strikes again

The 2020 Guernsey Marathon champion was training hard towards next month’s event prior to its postponement, but he has not guaranteed his presence for the new date of Sunday 24 October.

It could be that the past sub-2hrs 20min. man and Munich marathon winner finds the opportunity to travel and races abroad instead.

In any case, Friedrich was rather looking forward to what would have been the first spring marathon of his career.

‘It’s never worked out, never – I’ve jinxed it,’ he said with a chuckle.

But he also called the organisers’ decision to call off the race, within six weeks of race day, ‘the sensible thing to do’.

‘The runners have to plan, the organisers have to plan, and there’s lots of organising involved,’ Friedrich said.

‘There’s no point keeping it going and going and saying last minute and saying “Actually, we can’t do it”.’

After Guernsey entered lockdown last month, Friedrich was among the several runners left training hard and clinging onto the small possibility of the marathon going ahead.

That meant dealing with the extra hurdle of a two-hour exercise limit.

‘I did do my long runs a bit faster,’ he quipped.

‘I have got a static bike and I would go on the bike for half-an-hour, an hour, and then go out running.

‘It’s important to get those long training efforts in – 2hrs 30min. to 2hrs 40min. – and get used to being on your legs and being active for that amount of time.’

But he admitted he was not surprised when organisers postponed the event on Tuesday.

So what’s next?

Friedrich hopes to use options available locally, virtual or real, and given last year’s 5km clocking of 15-37, he is no slouch over shorter distances.

But later this year, he feels the global race scene could be very different, and that he may focus on a race like the Berlin Marathon.

‘Hopefully we will be able to go away and do races by then,’ he added.

‘I would be quite tempted to race away, just because I have not done that in so long.

‘There could be a clash, but you just never know.’