Come and get me.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was the message from former Alectown resident Scott Westcott to Australia's male marathon runners after he set a Rio Olympic Games qualifying time and a national masters record in Berlin last weekend.
Two days after his 40th birthday, Westcott finished 27th in the Berlin Marathon with a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 30 seconds.
The run was inside the 2:17 IAAF qualifying mark for next year's Olympics and bettered Steve Moneghetti's Australian 40 years marathon record of 2:17:14.
Westcott retired from elite marathons after finishing seventh in a Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 2:14:21 at the Melbourne Marathon.
He fell just 12 seconds shy of Liam Adams to stay fourth among Australian qualifiers for Glasgow and missed selection.
Athletics Australia will set its own Rio qualifying standard, but Westcott, who was fourth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, has put himself in the frame for a maiden Olympics berth at age 40.
Westcott said his comeback tour "might have one more stop, probably in a warmer climate".
"It would be a nice way to run a lazy marathon and finish off," Westcott said of a Rio swansong.
"Obviously this will be motivation for a lot of young guys, as it should be.
"Come and get me."
Westcott is 17th on the all-time Australian marathon list with a 2:11.36 set in Japan in 2005, but has never qualified for an Olympic Games.
He was surprised to break 2:16 in Berlin after a limited preparation and was not closing the door to another shot at the sport's pinnacle.
"It's hard to know what a 40-year-old body is capable of," he said.
"I know I'm over the crest. I'm just not sure what's on the other side.
"But I felt as good as I ever have in marathons.
"Mind you, I'm running a little bit easier, not running at 2:11, 2:12 pace anymore.
"But I was well within my limitations, and I think I was probably shy a bit of mileage because I was running nine times a week rather than 13 or 14.
“I only really got super excited about four months ago, so I only had four months of solid marathon prep of 100 miles a week."
