Well done to Bethan Hopewell for her winning prediction. The contest was reduced to just the Johnny / Johnson spread when Ian surrendered to a foot problem before half-way, thus Mara's excellent run of 2:25:41 went unchallenged. Benita eventually paid for her ambition of going with the very fast early leading pace, though unlike many elite runners on the day she did soldier on to record 2:29:47. Johnny held up relatively well in the heat to finish in 2:22:18 to give a spread of 7:29.

Thames / Harrow Re-match
Name	Mara Yamauchi	Ian Harkness
Profession	Full-time athlete	Part-time chemist, full-time cynic.
Diet	Seaweed, fermented soya beans, Japanese rice cakes and other such fancy stuff.	Gallon of tea for breakfast, gallon of beer for dinner, malt loaf in-between.
Marathons	18/04/04 - London - 2:39:16	17/10/04 - Abingdon - 2:26:18
	17/04/05 - London - 2:31:52	17/04/05 - London - 2:24:10
	14/08/05 - Helsinki - 2:31:26	23/04/06 - London - 2:26:41
	20/11/05 - Tokyo - 2:27:38
	23/04/06 - London - 2:25:13
Form	Suffered injury at the tail end of last year, but would seem to have returned to top form. Clocked 31:43 for a 10k Ekiden leg in February, followed by 69:36 in the Matsue Half Marathon.	Preparations were hampered by putting his back out while tying his shoelaces, demonstrating the attention he gives to core stability and flexibility, and leading to a sub-par 71 minute Half at Reading. Has solid build-up behind him though. Was 13 seconds shy of last year's time at the 12 stage relay over the 5 mile leg.
Johnny / Johnson Spread
Name	Benita Johnson	John McFarlane
Profession	Full-time athlete	Full-time doctor, part-time soldier.
Diet	Healthy and varied	Steak-and-Ale pie. That's it.
Marathons	7/11/04 - New York - 2:38.03	23/04/00 - London - 2:29:43
	17/04/05 - London - 2:26.32	22/04/01 - London - 2:30:14
	22/10/06 - Chicago - 2:22.36	23/11/03 - Florence - 2:20:11
		01/02/04 - Valencia - 2:24:18
		18/04/04 - London - 2:17:53
		03/10/04 - Kosice - 2:19:47
		28/11/04 - Florence - 2:21:45
		17/04/05 - London - 2:20:54
		23/04/06 - London - 2:19:24
		24/09/06 - Toronto - 2:21:49
Form	Ran 68.28 to win the Berlin Half Marathon at the start of the month, confirming the reports that she's in superb form. She said of London, "I know this is a very strong field and one has to be able to run sub 2:20 to win. But I think I can do this". Nevermind the win, will this be enough to shade Johnny?	A string of recent solid performances would suggest he has good grounds for his usual pre-marathon bullishness. In February recorded 66:27 for the Wokingham Half and 1:46:21 for the Bramley 20, more recently ran close to his pb when completing 10 miles in 49:52.