AFTER years of hype, it is finally the Mo-ment of truth for Britain's double Olympic gold medallist Mohammed Farah (pictured) in the 34th London Marathon on Sunday. The British athletics press seem to have been obsessed with the prospect of Farah's debut at the distance since he won the mini-marathon three times as a teenager. Twelve months ago he was paid a monstrous amount of money to run the first half of the London Marathon but disappeared through a gap in the barriers at East Smithfield, still a few hundred yards before the halfway marker.
Even that did not stop his fans enthusing over his debut at the full distance.
A winter spent at altitude in Kenya preluded his much-anticipated warmup race, the New York half-marathon last month. Unfortunately, that did not go entirely to plan with the Essex Beagles clubman falling around the 10 kilometre mark but fighting back to take second at the finish line behind Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai.
The drama did not end there, with Farah collapsing minutes later and having to be carried off for medical treatment. Farah has dismissed that setback and believes he is now ready to tackle the 26.2 mile distance for the first time.
However, he has talked down winning the race, saying he will be satisfied with breaking the UK record, Steve Jones' 2:07:13 in Chicago 1985.
World record holder and bookie's favourite Wilson Kipsang (7/4 favourite) is in the field as well as that man Mutai (7/1) in search of his 13th marathon victory.
That may not be a lucky number for Farah (11/2).