Stragglers' great Dane sets sights on London (From Kingston Guardian)

Stragglers' great Dane sets sights on London

11:26am Friday 4th May 2012 in Sport

Stragglers Running Club athlete Jess Draskau-Petersson’s super performance in last Sunday’s London marathon has catapulted her into contention to compete at the 2012 Olympics – for Denmark.

Draskau-Petersson ignored the effects of a calf strain after eight miles of the women’s elite race, to clock two hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds and smash her personal best by seven minutes.

It means she has earned a nomination to be selected to represent her native country in the Olympic marathon later this year.

The 34-year-old former Great Britain triathlete, who clocked 1.30:47 to win the 16-mile women’s race at the Kingston Breakfast Run in April, was born in Denmark in 1977 and lived there for 13 years before her family moved to the UK.

She has been a member of Stragglers since 2005 and has won four world long-distance duathlon championship silver medals for Great Britain.

Draskau-Petersson is a former British Ironman record holder, but now only concentrates on running.