WITH the Olympics starting six months this week, the region's hopeful competitors are deep in training to try and secure their place at the Games.

One man confident they can do themselves and Devon proud is Steve Cram, who will commentate on the Games for the BBC.

The former middle-distance runner was in Exeter last week as the guest speaker at the Express & Echo's inaugural sports awards.

And the 51-year old took time out to predict good times for our leading prospective Olympians.

The likes of Liam Tancock, Jo Pavey, Mary King, Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes and Gorgs Geikie are hoping to win a place on Team GB for the London Games.

The opening ceremony takes place on July 27 and Cram thinks Devon could be well represented that evening.

As a former world-class athlete and Olympic silver medallist, Cram has followed Pavey's career closely over the last decade or so.

The 38-year-old stepped up to the marathon last year, making her debut in London last April and achieving a qualifying time to go to the Games.

However, she is waiting to hear if she will be awarded the third and final place on the British women's marathon squad. Cram thinks she'll get it.

"She's probably in the best place," he told Echo Sport. "She's got the time, she's got the experience and she's probably disappointed she didn't get selected in the first wave.

"The selectors have left the door open for the others and the London marathon is pretty much their last opportunity, but I think Jo's in the best position. I can't see anybody else coming through at the moment, they'd have to run a 2:25 or 2:26 to really oust her.

"I think she's going to rest on what she's done and hopefully that's enough to get her selected and I think it will be."

If selected, Pavey will be going to her fourth successive Olympics. While she has no medals to show for her efforts to date, Cram said marathons can be unpredictable so the Exeter Harrier may be in luck later this year as she continues to adapt to the longer distance.

"Jo started out as a 1,500m runner and it's a massive shift forward," he said. "I think she's done really well, I still think she's learning and she's never going to run as fast as Paula (Radcliffe) because Paula was a natural endurance athlete. Jo is going to have to find ways of knocking a minute off or two minutes off.

"What someone like Mara Yamauchi has shown is that if you're clever with your training and your race preparation and get yourself in great shape, you might not run the big fast times in the big city marathons but you can go to the major championships and run really well and get right in amongst it.

"I think for Jo it probably was the right decision to move up to the marathon. Whether it's in 2012 or the next few years, she gives herself a chance. The great thing about the marathon is that it's very unpredictable and it may just be your day."

Tancock knows what it feels like to medal at an elite championship as he has twice been crowned world champion.

However, the former Exeter City Swimming Club member's favoured 50m backstroke event is not on the Olympic programme, meaning his best chance of stepping on the podium comes in the 100m.

Tancock is not the first British swimmer to find their best discipline off the agenda when it comes to the Games, but Cram thinks his previous experience in major championships can stand him in good stead.

"He's a bit like Mark Foster, who was a very famous swimmer but not at the Olympic Games because he was a sprinter," Cram said of Tancock.

"Liam probably falls a little bit into that category but he like everybody else knows what the Olympics are about and knows what you have to do. You have to take the confidence you have from the events when you have been successful and try to translate that into an event like the Olympic Games.

"He's shown he has got the ability in the past, he just has to get himself into the best shape he's ever been in this summer and try to deliver."

Pavey and Tancock have been to four Games between them, but King has already been to five.

The 50-year-old is bidding to go to a sixth Olympics, an achievement that would set a record for British evening.

Despite her recent good form – the Exminster rider finished top of the HSBC rankings last year – she does not know for sure if she will be going.

If she does make the team, Cram believes King can add to the silver and bronze medals she has already won.

He said: "Undoubtedly what the selectors will look for in events like equestrianism is experience. Age isn't a factor, it's about coping with the unique pressure that the Olympics bring.

"Mary knows this year is a bit unusual because they don't have the issue of getting the horse to another part of the world, which they often have to deal with – Beijing in particular.

"This time around there should be a lot of familiarity in terms of preparation and routine if not the course itself because where they're hosting (Greenwich Park) it is not a normal venue.

"I would imagine the level of experience she has is going to really count. You look around the names who win medals in equestrian and they tend to repeat.

"We tend to count on them. When we look at our prospective medal count we look at them and we expect medals and I'm sure they'll deliver."

The elite athletes from our region are the lucky ones who can compete on the biggest stage in their own country. But Cram hopes everyone else in the region will get behind the Games and help make it a real celebration this summer.

With the torch relay passing through Exeter on May 20 and 21, everyone in the region will have a chance to join in the celebrations.

And Cram thinks the capital will come to life for the two weeks of competition this summer.

"I've been to 10 Olympics, three as a competitor and seven winter and summer Games in the media, and it never fails to take people by surprise," he said.

"In Vancouver in 2010 there was negativity surrounding it (the winter Games) right up until the start but the people of Vancouver really rallied around at the start and by the end of the Games you couldn't move in Vancouver because people came from all over Canada.

"They didn't have a ticket, it was all sold out, but they wanted to be part of it. That's what will happen in London."

The likes of Tancock, Pavey, King, Geikie and Morrison and Rhodes will be hoping they can be part of it too.