In the world’s best marathon, there is no prospect of a home winner tomorrow, but at least there is hope of the best collective showing from the Great Britain squad for more than a decade. In the case of Liz Yelling, call it the Paula Radcliffe reverse effect.

While many a British runner has been inspired by Radcliffe, Yelling has run six marathons and is yet to break 2hr 30min. Now that she no longer trains the Radcliffe way, she is aiming for 2:25. As a longstanding friend and Bedford club-mate of Radcliffe, Yelling spent much of her career training with her. However, two years ago, a physiologist told Yelling she was training too hard.

“I have trained with Paula since I was 11, same club, same coach,” Yelling, 32, said. “Paula has always had her foot on the throttle. It was not until I started talking with other athletes, like Kelly Holmes, that I realised easy running between hard sessions can work.” Asked whether she wished she had known earlier, Yelling said: “It would have saved me a lot of pain and sitting on the side \ and feeling depressed.”

Yelling is one of three British women in contention for a top-ten finish. Mara Yamauchi, No 2 to Radcliffe on the British all-time list, is seeking to improve from 2:25 to 2:23 and Kathy Butler from 2:28 to an unstated target.

Not since 1994 have more than three Britons, in the combined results for men and women, finished in the top ten. Jon Brown and Dan Robinson are confident of performing well, but may benefit from a cautious strategy. Brown knows from experience that many of the fancied runners will suffer when they fall off the pace. “Two years ago I remember passing three of the favourites in the last mile,” Brown, who was sixth that year, said.

The men’s field is headed by Felix Limo, the defending champion, Martin Lel, his fellow Kenyan and the winner in 2005, Jaouad Gharib, the world champion from Morocco, Stefano Baldini, the Olympic champion from Italy, Paul Tergat, the world record-holder from Kenya, and Haile Gebrselassie. Lornah Kiplagat, from the Netherlands, is the women’s race favourite.