Darts star Steve Farmer drops marathon bid to concentrate on PDC rankings (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Darts star Steve 'The Train' Farmer drops marathon bid to concentrate on PDC rankings

9:00am Monday 23rd January 2012 in Sport By Ian Morgan

STEVE Farmer has put his London Marathon bid on hold — so he can concentrate on climbing the darts rankings.

Farmer, who used to live in Oreton near Cleobury Mortimer, wants to break into the world’s top 32.

He will be jetting off to the Spanish sunshine later this month to open his 2012 PDC campaign.

The Train will be competing in the Spanish Darts Trophy Players Championships in Benidorm on January 28 and 29.

The two tournaments will be the first PDC ProTour events of 2012.

“I am hoping that I can get to Benidorm in the last week of January so I am not going to do the London Marathon this year,” said Farmer.

“I have moved up to number 36 in the rankings and it’s all to play for.

“I want to concentrate on getting into the top 32 which gets you into the main competitions.”

Farmer has lost around four stone since the summer after taking up a strict fitness regime. He reached the third round of the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship last month before being beaten by Jame Wade.

“If I had got to the semi-finals of the championship, I would have moved up to somewhere like number 24,” added Farmer.