Alfie Manthorpe eyes Olympic dream after rapid rise on the roads
The British distance runner talks through his transition to road running, how he trains for a marathon and his Olympic ambitions in the sport.
Alfie Manthorpe casts his mind back to the 2024 Malaga Marathon. Having struggled to get a place in the race, he managed to find a spot as a pacer and, for almost 20km, ran it at 3:01/km.
The result? Manthorpe stepped off the Spanish tarmac with 62:24 for the half marathon. The following day he announced that he would prioritise road racing for the 2025 season and, within one month, clocked 28:12 at the Valencia 10km.
The 27-year-old British athlete has since taken that mark down to an incredible 27:40 [or two seconds quicker if you go by chip and not gun time], improved his half marathon best to 61:26 and ran 2:11:31 in his debut marathon in London this past April.
Having represented Great Britain at the 2023 European Cross Country Championships, Manthorpe has now worn the national vest on the roads as well.
He placed 33rd in the 10km at last year’s European Running Championships in Belgium and has since donned the British colours on a number of occasions, most recently at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen.
This was the fourth time Manthorpe represented Great Britain and he finished 55th with 62:40 for the half marathon in the Danish capital.
Manthorpe, who is fully focused on the training block for this December’s Valencia Marathon, wants to learn from each experience and use every race as an opportunity to grow.
Earlier this month the Brit announced he signed with Skechers and believes that the partnership will help him fulfill his potential, with the marathon at the LA 2028 Olympics being the ultimate goal.
When Manthorpe recorded that mark of 62:24 in Malaga two years ago, he realised that it was a sign of better things to come.
“It was proof that what I was doing was working for me,” he tells AW. “I was pacing a marathon at 2:07 and that felt really good. I thought that if I can handle that, then I know I’ve got the aerobic fitness to go into a 10km and other races.
“The 28:12 in Valencia was a shock. It allowed me to be a bit more ambitious. When you do aerobic training and see what’s possible, it creates a really cool scenario when you automatically run faster in those races.”
Last year Manthorpe represented Great Britain over 25 laps on the track at the European 10,000m Cup but the purpose of this season’s track appearances – including a 13:47.16 5000m in Braga in July – have been used to gain information on how he can better his performances on the roads.
“I’ve always found my best races have come on the road,” Manthorpe adds. “The transition was natural for me. I always felt it would happen. It was when the appropriate time was.
“It seems to have shifted now but there was this hesitancy of moving up to the half or the marathon too early, which I think might have held me back. Growing up in the grassroots of the sport made me think ‘oh I need to chase a faster 5000m or 10,000m’ whereas once that went out my head, it was an easy decision.
“The track races I did in the summer was about me getting used to racing in spikes, which would hopefully improve my road times. I wanted to see how my body responded to running in spikes so I could actually see how that would compare to the mechanics of my current road running.”
Having run 2:11:31 for his debut marathon in London, Manthorpe is keen to take a few minutes off that mark in Valencia on December 6.
There is the prospect that this year’s Valencia Marathon, with the likes of Yomif Kejelcha and Fotyen Tesfay involved, could be record-breaking.
Although it officially isn’t a major, the race attracts some of the world’s best marathon runners due to its notoriously fast course and reliable temperatures.
Manthorpe, who was on for 2:08 pace half-way in London, wants to run a more measured race in Valencia and has been meticulous in his training to prepare for the big day.
The aim? High 2:08s or low 2:09s. If he can do that then the 27-year-old will put himself in the top 20 on the UK marathon all-time list.
“A lot of the improvement has come from stacking more volume,” Manthorpe says. “I am now doing more of that at a higher level. I was doing double thresholds around 20km per day and now it’s around 22/24km. I’m now doing more heat training on my easy days as well as the correct strength training and structure.
“In London one thing I found was that I had a deterioration of my mechanics because of the durability of running that type of distance. That’s something I’m trying to work on. Every time I finish a long run session now, I can still roll towards the end, I see that as a good sign.”
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This is his current weekly training:
Monday - Easy double - 16km in the morning and 8km in the evening. With heat training that can be 14km and then 10km.
Tuesday - Double threshold - continuous threshold in the morning and then faster reps in the evening.
Wednesday - Medium long run around 24km and gym.
Thursday - Similar to Monday, with an easy run in the morning and in the afternoon.
Friday - More specific session in the morning and easy run in the evening.
Saturday - Medium run around 10km.
Sunday - Long run and gym.
Manthorpe’s analytical approach to training allows him to work on specifics from session to session.
Based in Manchester, the Brit conducts most of his medium and long runs in the city, as well as track workouts at Manchester Regional Arena.
He stresses the importance of understanding "mechanical stimulus” and that training in a variety of Skechers shoes helps him achieve his targets during training.
“Every session feels like I have a purpose,” Manthorpe tells AW. “That also shouldn’t just be the aerobic or anaerobic stimulus but also mechanical stimulus. When you get so obsessed with always trying to feel your best in a training session, I feel like you can lose some of that mechanical strength.
“On easy double days I might wear the Skechers Aero Spark and then in the evening put on the Skechers Aero Burst. So you’ve got a really high cushioned shoe in the Aero Burst and then you’ve got the Aero Spark being a lower profile shoe. I’ll wear both to get a different stimulus on my mechanics.
“During a lot of my training, I would do the threshold work in the Skechers Aero Razor. As I progress into an LT2 session, I would then wear the Skechers Aero Elite. As I get faster, it means I’m more switched on mechanically and that then transfers into the harder specific sessions, where I would wear the Aero Elite.
“For a slower long run I’d wear the Aero Burst and then for the faster long runs I’d wear the Aero Elite. How a shoe feels at 5km/10km is very different to how it feels at 35/40km. You need to have that skill of handling the shoe at different paces and stride lengths.
“What I found in London was that my stride length and the power I was putting in was completely different to 32km onwards. So it’s just trying to get used to all of that.”
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You don’t have to go far to gain insight into Manthorpe’s marathon training for Valencia.
As well as amassing 17,000 Youtube subscribers and 16,400 Strava followers, Manthorope has established a sizeable community on Instagram with 117,000 people following his profile.
That has grown significantly over the past couple of years, with the distance runner posting clips of his training and behind the scenes looks into his progress as an athlete.
Engagement with his followers, many of whom run as well, is enlightening for Manthorpe. He looks at the comments on his social media and Youtube channel, something that helps offer perspective on his training.
“I put out the content because I love talking about the shoes and the training,” he says. “I think it’s a really cool dynamic. Even like when you have other people come down to the track and watch you and share that. Less than five years ago we didn’t really have that.
“I think there’s been somewhat of a disconnect between the elite side of distance running on the roads to the mass participation element. I think that’s changed recently though.
“I always look at the elite side of things but when I produce content I get feedback on what I do and that’s always interesting to read. It allows me to appreciate different perspectives on the sport.”
“How do they view training compared to me? How do people run a three-hour marathon train? I think you can learn a lot from people who are balancing training with a job or who have kids for example. The roads are a lot more inclusive than the track.”
Even though the LA 2028 Olympics is still less than two years away, Manthorpe already has eyes on the Games.
After Valencia, the Brit is eager to return to the London Marathon and wants to compete in a race like Chicago or Berlin later on in the year.
Manthorpe is under no illusions of the challenge he faces to make the Olympic marathon team but believes anything is possible with dedication and consistency.
Although the standards for the LA 2028 Olympics are yet to be released, it is unlikely the mark will be above the entry standard of 2:06:00 for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
“I’d firstly love to attack the British record [27:38] in the 10km,” Manthorpe adds. “If you get a Patrick Dever or a fit Emile Cairess in Valencia then I’m sure they could drop that record down substantially to the low 27s as well.
“The long-term plan, in the build-up to LA 2028 and beyond that as well, is to nail the qualifying standard and work my way up the rankings.”
