Athletics: Radcliffe establishes new standard to leave rivals gasping

London Marathon: World's finest woman distance runner finishes four and a half minutes clear of field to retain title

Mike Rowbottom
Monday 14 April 2003 00:00 BST
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The London Marathon leader board for women competitors told its own story yesterday. The number in the frame, from first mile to last, was 101 – Paula Radcliffe's. The defending champion left no room for error.

Radcliffe's physical therapist, Ger Hartmann, described her winning time of 2hr 15min 25sec, which took 1min 53sec off the world best she had set in Chicago six months earlier as a "quantum leap'' in the event. "I have worked with 42 Olympic medallists and I don't know anyone else who works so hard nor is so dedicated to what they do,'' Hartmann said. "The other girls are going to have to start thinking of ways to bridge the gap because I know Paula can run faster again.''

Radcliffe has still to decide whether to contest the marathon or the 10,000 metres at next year's Olympics, but after a remorseless display which left her four and a half minutes clear of her nearest challenger, Kenya's former world record holder Catherine Ndereba, she is entitled to feel enormous confidence as she looks ahead to Athens.

Although the 29-year-old Bedford athlete manifested signs of stress in the later stages of the race, grimacing and nodding her head in characteristic fashion, her final mile before the 385-yard stretch down the Mall was completed in 4min 48sec, the fastest in any women's marathon. She finished as she started – superbly.

Much had been made before the race of the decision to allow the women to be paced by eight Kenyan men, who were instructed to proceed in pairs at intervals between 2.16 and 2.22 pace. As soon as the runners had moved clear of the start, Radcliffe established herself alone with the fastest pair and the race became, in Hartland's words, "a time trial''.

But Radcliffe, who remained studiously detached from her assistants throughout, had been reluctant to tie herself down to a race plan as she approached what was only her third marathon. "It wasn't because we were playing our cards close to our chests,'' she said. "The organisers were asking me about it, but I just wanted to go out and run how I felt on the day.

"When I run it's not about the clock, it's about a battle with myself to see how fast I can go. Sometimes I think, if you don't see the clock all the way round, would you run faster, testing out your body's instinct? That's what I do in training.'' Thus it was that the world's finest woman distance runner imitated Luke Skywalker as she pounded the streets of London. "Trust the Force...''

As she sought to maintain a momentum that had seen her establish a 36-second lead within 10 miles, Radcliffe used mental as well as physical resources. "You just try and block out as much as possible,'' she said. "I count to myself. If I count to 100 slowly three times, I've done a mile. It's all about playing mind games with yourself and taking one thing at a time.

"I thought I'd slowed down in the second half, but I'd actually run faster. It was very windy going through the Docklands, and over the last five or six miles I was struggling with stomach cramps. They would be alright, and then go again. That was maybe why the pace was a bit erratic. But I didn't think I had over-cooked it. I knew I would finish.''

And finish she did, in a time 3min 31sec inside her winning mark of a year earlier. The only thing that had provided her with a serious threat en route was an over-eager cameraman on a motorbike who had crowded her. An accident at that point would have been especially hard to take after Radcliffe's gallant recovery from her injuries following a collision with a bicyclist while training in Albuquerque five weeks ago, an incident which left her with cut knees and shoulders, a dislocated jaw and a pang of fear that she would not be able to defend her London title. It would also have been a terrible waste of emu oil – the traditional Aboriginal remedy with which she tended her wounds.

Radcliffe's victory received due praise from the third placed Deena Drossin, who broke Joan Benoit's 18-year-old US record with 2hr 21min 16sec. "It was an impressive performance,'' Drossin said. "It was an inspiration to other runners to make little extra sacrifices and take their training to a higher level.''

The challenge of a debut marathon at the age of 36 proved too much for South Africa's Zola Budd-Pieterse, who dropped out after 20 miles.

The men's race ended with the exhilarating sight of five men rounding the final bend in a line before a sprint finish which saw the world and Olympic champion, Gezahegne Abera, claim another title by less than a second from Italy's Stefano Baldini. The 24-year-old Ethiopian, who makes a habit of tight finishes, had led the race for less than two seconds.

EVOLUTION OF WOMEN'S MARATHON WORLD RECORD

13.04.03: 2hr 15min 25sec, Paula Radcliffe (GB), London
13.10.02: 2:17.18, Radcliffe, Chicago
07.10.01: 2:18.47, Catherine Ndereba (Ken), Chicago
30.09.01: 2:19:46, Naoko Takahashi (Japan), Berlin
26.09.99: 2:20:43, Tegla Loroupe (Ken), Berlin
19.04.98: 2:20:47, Loroupe, Rotterdam
21.04.85: 2:21:06, Ingrid Kristiansen (Nor), London
18.04.83: 2:22:43, Joan Benoit (US), Boston
17.04.83: 2:25:29, Grete Waitz (Nor), London
12.09.82: 2:26:11, Benoit, Eugene
20.04.81: 2:26:46, Allison Roe (NZ), Boston
29.03.81: 2:29:57, Joyce Smith (GB), London

LONDON RESULTS

MEN
1 G Abera (Eth) 2hr 7min 56sec; 2 S Baldini (It) 2:07:56; 3 J Ngolepus (Ken) 2:07:57; 4 P Tergat (Ken) 2:07:59; 5 S Ramadhani (Tan) 2:08:01; 6 A El Mouaziz (Mor) 2:08:03; 7 Lee Bong-ju (S Kor) 2:08:10; 8 H Ramaala (SA) 2:08:58; 9 I Syster (SA) 2:09:18, 10 J Cortes (Sp) 2:10:39.

WOMEN
1 P Radcliffe (GB) 2:15.25 (WR); 2 C Ndereba (Ken) 2:19:55, 3 D Drossin (US) 2:21:16; 4 S Chepkemei (Ken) 2:23:12; 5 L Petrova (Rus) 2:23:14; 6 C Dita (Rom) 2:23:43; 7 J Prokocuka (Lat) 2:24:01; 8 E Alemu (Eth) 2:24:56; 9 M Botezan (Rom) 2:25:32; 10 D Tulu (Eth) 2:26:33.

MEN'S WHEELCHAIR
1 J Jeannot (Fr) 1hr 32min 2sec; 2 D Weir (GB) 1:34:48; 3 D Lemeunier (Fr) 1:34:50.

WOMEN'S WHEELCHAIR
1 F Porcellato (It) 2:04.21; 2 T Grey-Thompson (GB) 2:04:54; 3 P Craig (GB) 2:06:54.

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