MARA Yamauchi will lead the British challenge in tomorrow’s 30th Great North Run following a rather less hectic build-up than she one she endured to her last race.

The 37-year-old former Headington Roadrunner saw a six-day travel nightmare scupper her hopes in April’s London Marathon, getting to the capital from her training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico by plane, car, taxi and private propeller plane via New York, Lisbon, Madrid and Paris after the Icelandic ash cloud grounded flights. She went on to finish a weary tenth.

The Oxford-born athlete has not raced in the five months since, deciding to miss the European Championships in Barcelona in the summer to focus on the New York Marathon in November.

And she admits she will go into the north east half marathon unsure of how she will perform.

“I’ve just come back from a month of altitude training in San Moritz in Switzerland which went really well,” Yamauchi said.

“In June I had a problem with my foot so I was off running for about a week. I don’t think I’m in personal best shape, but if I can run around 70 minutes I’d be happy.”