Athletics: Radcliffe's New York win eases Olympic agony

1.00pm - By MIKE ROWBOTTOM

NEW YORK - Paula Radcliffe renewed her reputation as the world's best female distance runner here yesterday by winning the New York City marathon just 77 days after the traumatic collapse of her Olympic ambitions.

In one of the most dramatic marathon finishes ever witnessed, the 30-year-old world record holder ran stride for stride with Kenya's Susan Chepkemei over the final five miles before producing a winning surge two hundred metres from the finish in Central Park.

Having returned to action as soon as possible, the 30-year-old world record holder, strongly criticised in some quarters of the media after failing to finish either the marathon or the 10,000 metres in Athens, was under extreme pressure to perform.

She had to finish. And, if she was to restore the standing she had established in winning her first three marathons, she had to win.

In achieving both objectives, she has re-established the conception of herself as a competitor who never knows when to quit; she has also created another chapter which will shortly need to be added to her autobiography My Story So Far, published on November 15.

Radcliffe refused to accept beforehand that she had anything to prove in this race, and after finishing four seconds clear of her rival in 2hr 23min 10sec, she maintained her position.

"I don't know about redemption," she said. "But it was really important to win here in New York. It's been a long year, and now I'm going to have a good break and re-charge my batteries for next season."

Dave Bedford, race director of the Flora London Marathon, who had described her decision to race so soon after the Olympics as a "high-risk strategy", is already negotiating to bring Radcliffe back to challenge for a third title in the capital next April.

Nick Bitel, the London chief executive, added that Radcliffe's presence at the 25th anniversary of the event would have been sought in any circumstances.

"We have always said that we regard her as the finest female distance runner of her generation," he added. After this win, Radcliffe will certainly not come cheap.

New York organisers paid her a reputed half a million US dollars ($720,000) to appear, and she added another US$140,000 in winnings with this result, as well as a car.

Meanwhile her main kit sponsors, Nike, are expected to offer her a contract worth around £1.2million ($3.2 million) when her current one comes to an end on December 31.

Victory in Nike's back yard will hardly have damaged Radcliffe's commercial value. On an unseasonably warm day, Radcliffe negotiated the 42km circular route from Staten Island to Manhattan to hugely voluble support, with numerous British flags evident.

After staggering to a halt at the finish, she received her own Union Jack, placed around her shoulders by her husband and manager Gary Lough.

She revealed afterwards that she had felt sick as she and Chepkemei had passed the 38km mark soon after entering Central Park, a vast acreage of red, brown and gold with its ring of towering edifices, for the first time.

"I just kept it going, kept it steady," she said. "I didn't matter if I was sick at the finish. I was reasonably confident I could outsprint Susan at the end. The time doesn't matter at all. What mattered was coming here and winning the race."

Bedford, who recovered his own reputation after failure at the 1972 Olympics by setting a world 10,000 metres record a year later, said Radcliffe's result had allowed her to "draw a line" under her unhappy experience in Athens, which she has subsequently put down to a combination of being injured and suffering a stomach upset as a result of the anti-inflammatory drugs she was taking.

"This result means that when Paula gets up every morning and remembers her last race, as all athletes do, she will have a far better experience to look back at." Bedford said. "This is going to make her life so much happier."

- INDEPENDENT