RADCLIFFE TO RETURN TO COMPETITION AT GREAT NORTH RUN By David Monti (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved September 11, 2007
For distance running fans, the nearly two-year wait is over.
The
world's fastest-ever women's marathoner, Paula Radcliffe, will return
to competition after a 21 month layoff at the BUPA Great North Run, on
Sept. 30, in Newcastle, England, organizers announced today.
The
33 year-old former world marathon champion, who has twice won what is
the world's largest half-marathon, has not competed seriously* since
winning the San Silvestro Vallecana 10-K road race in Madrid on Dec.
31, 2005. In the intervening time, she had a foot surgery to remove a
neuroma, and then became pregnant with husband Gary Lough (April,
2006). The couple had their first child, daughter Isla, on January 17,
2007. Radcliffe returned to training soon thereafter, but discovered
she had a stress fracture in her sacrum related to child birth which
slowed her comeback to racing.
"I really missed racing through
the pregnancy and the setbacks since have emphasized this even more,"
said Radcliffe through a media release. "It has really underlined to
me how much I want to carry on competing for a good while yet. I now
feel that I am at that point and ready to come out and race well. I am
really, really looking forward to it."
Radcliffe owns the
women's marathon world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds which
she set at the 2003 Flora London Marathon. She has won London three
times, including her marathon debut there in 2002 when she finished in
2:18:56, setting what was then a women's-only world record. In her
second attempt at the 42.195 km distance later that year, Radcliffe
knocked more than 90 seconds off her London time by running 2:17:18 at
the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Those two races, coupled with gold
medals at the European Championships and Commonwealth Games that
summer, earned her the IAAF Athlete of the Year and BBC Sports
Personality of the Year awards in 2002.
Returning
to London in 2003, Radcliffe again lowered her record (by nearly two
minutes), and after struggling with injuries and illness in late 2003
and early 2004, the three-time Olympian won the ING New York City
Marathon 2004 in a thrilling sprint finish against Kenyan Susan
Chepkemei. Radcliffe won by three seconds in the closest women's finish
in New York history. She garnered her third London victory in 2005 and
captured the gold medal in the marathon at the 2005 IAAF World
Championships in Helsinki.
To prepare for the Great North Run,
Radcliffe returned to her French training base in Font Romeu and took
things slowly. "I had to be patient until my body recovered and I have
been able to get a good base of running and decent training in," said
the Bedford athlete.
Radcliffe chose the Great North Run because
of her familiarity with the event and her previous successes there.
She ran the fastest-ever certified half marathon there in 2003 (the
point-to-point course is slightly aided), clocking 1:05:40. She also
won in 2000 in 1:07:07.
"I love the Great North, have many happy
memories and always get such great support there," said Radcliffe. "I
love mass races where the atmosphere is so good at the start and all
along the route. "I also know I will get a big test on my comeback but
look forward to getting back to having fun racing."
______________ *While
five months pregnant, in September, 2006, Radcliffe ran casually in the
Hydro Active Women's Challenge, a 5 km road race in London, clocking
18:51.