Phil Sesemann: “Running around London Marathon is so much fun”

Leeds City runner is tempted by cani-cross and ultra-running races but has unfinished business over 26.2 miles

Phil Sesemann is known for doing much of his training with his ‘mileage mutts’ Haile and Kipchoge. Such is his love of running with dogs, he fancies tackling cani-cross one day in the future. For now, though, he has unfinished business in the marathon, starting this weekend on the streets of London.

“I’ve been top 10 twice in a row so I’d like to make it three in a row although the field looks a bit stronger in depth this year,” he says. “So I could end up running quicker but end up in a lower position. But I don’t want to be on a marathon start line aiming to be fifth best Brit or something like that. I’d like to be first Brit home but it’s mainly about running my best possible marathon on the day and to see where that takes me.”

Sesemann made headlines in 2021 when he finished first Brit in the London Marathon and it emerged he had done lots of training with a Spaniel and Vizsla cross called ‘Kipchoge’ and a German Shorthaired Pointer called ‘Haile’. The self-styled ‘mileage mutts’ even have their own Strava accounts and Sesemann says they join him for around two thirds of his own training with friends like runner Josh Dickinson taking them for a spin if he is racing or training abroad.

He admits he likes the idea of one day doing a cani-cross event. The standard at top events is not poor either with cani-cross champion Ben Robinson completing 5km on a bumpy trail in an amazing 12:24.

Sesemann also enjoys the idea of testing himself in an ultra-running race too. But not for a while. “Running around London Marathon is so much fun so I can imagine myself doing that for a while yet,” he says.

The 30-year-old adds: “If you look at Eliud Kipchoge, Mo Farah, Thommo, Sinead Diver, they’re into their 40s and running at their peak for marathons,” says Sesemann, “so I don’t see it’s a three to five year career for me.

“A lot of it is a mentality thing. You speak to some runners aged 35 who think they’re ‘done’ but then I train with athletes like Graham Rush and he’s still smashing it on the track and competing well.”

After growing up as a member of Blackheath & Bromley, he moved to Leeds around 12 years ago and is thriving in the area with training partners such as Emile Cairess, although the Cairess has stopped doing easy runs with Sesemann and his dogs…