El Guerrouj plans 'fun' marathons

El Guerrouj is aiming to turn to marathon running

Hicham El Guerrouj may have announced his retirement from competitive athletics, but he is now planning to switch to marathon running.

Morocco's 31-year-old Olympic 1500m and 5000m champion said he planned to begin the next stage of his career with November's New York race.

"I want to run the best marathons in the world for pleasure," said the 1500m world record holder.

"If I train well, I think I can run sub-two hours, 25 minutes."

El Guerrouj admits he is not targeting an assault on Paul Tergat's world marathon best of 2:04.55, but is rather aiming to remain competitive out of enjoyment.

"It is not very intensive training," he insisted. "But I have been running since I was very young, the last 18 years at a high level, so this is just for fun."

El Guerrouj set five world records and claimed seven World Championship and two Olympic titles in his glittering track career.

But he admitted his 1500m Olympic triumph in Athens 2004 was his favourite moment.

"I achieved a very nice Olympic story there," he said.

"All the years before, when people said I was going to win, I lost. Then In 2004, they said I was going to lose, and I won.

"But the best victory is to retire like I have now with such success," he said.

El Guerrouj set his first world record in the indoor 1,500m in 1997 and added the outdoor version (3:26.00) a year later in Rome.

A year later he was back in Rome to lower his world mile record to a still-standing 3:43.13.