Career
He has been named to the British team for the 2012 Summer Olympics following a Facebook campaign after he was initially not selected to the team Merrien competed at his first Island Games in Gotland in 1999, however he did finish in a medal position that year. At the 2009 Island Games on the Isle of Wight he set Island Games records in both the 1,500 m and the 5,000 m events.
In the 2011 London Marathon, he set a new personal best of 2hr 14min 27sec, which was within the "B" qualifying time for the 2012 Summer Olympics and was the fastest British competitor in the race.
He admitted afterwards that he had mixed feelings regarding his time, as although it was a new personal best, it wasn"t within the "A" qualifying time for the Games. His only previous attempt at the London Marathon was in 2010 when he finished in 12th place.
He finished 17th in the 2012 London Marathon, which was once again the highest placed British competitor in the race. He finished in a time of 2hr 13min 41sec, a new personal best, just outside the Olympic qualifying time set by United Kingdom Athletics at 2hr 12min.
Due to this, he was not chosen for the British team at the 2012 Olympics, with Scott Overall and Dave Webb being chosen for the team, and with the third spot left deliberately empty.
His time was inside the "A" time of 2hr 15min as set by the International Association of Athletics Federations. This resulted in an online campaign on Facebook to select Merrien for the British team, run by fan Cara Saul. The campaign resulted in 3,000 followers.
Merrien appealed against the decision not to select him.
His appeal was thrown out by United Kingdom Athletics. However, on 27 April, it was announced that the selectors had reversed their decision and added Merrien to the British team for the Olympics.
Merrien"s response was described as "ecstatic". Prior to the games, he is to complete altitude training in the Pyrenees mountains in Europe, having previous attended camps in Iten, Kenya.
Merrien attended the University of Bath, graduating with a degree in Coach Education and Sports Performance.
He currently manages a running club He is the spokesman for charity Male Uprising in Guernsey which aims to raise awareness of prostate, testicular and bowel cancer.