ATHELTICS: When Paula Radcliffe's autobiography My Story So Far hits the bookshelves next week it will already be out of date, because it will not include the tale of her dramatic victory in the New York City Marathon here yesterday. Instead, it ends with details of her dramatic failure to finish either the marathon or 10,000 metres in the Olympics in Athens this summer.
Radcliffe has been brought up far too politely by her parents to do something as common as stick two fingers up or even turn round and say, "I told you so". But those critics, most notably Liz McColgan, the last Briton to win this race in 1991, who had doubted her psychological ability to bounce back from her Olympic trauma were given a stinging riposte.
Even the thrilling manner in which the Bedford runner triumphed in this race by four seconds from Kenya's Susan Chepkemei will not atone for what happened to the world record holder in the Greek capital but it surely went a long way to re-establishing her as the toughest female distance runner of her generation, if not also the best.
Radcliffe had to dig as deep as she has ever had to beat Chepkemei. It was only 200 metres from the end of the 26.2-mile (42.16km) race from Staten Island to Central Park that she finally snapped the Kenyan's resistance.
Urged on by a crowd estimated by the New York Police Department at 2.5 million, they had run the final five miles stride for stride. Both Radcliffe and Chepkemei surged occasionally to try to open a gap but they had passed under the banner marking the final 300m (0.2 miles) before the Briton finally sprinted away to win in two hours 23 minutes 10 seconds, the closest finish in the race's 35-year history.
The win was worth $140,000 in prizemoney and bonuses to add to the $500,000 appearance fee she received. Radcliffe (30) also became the first athlete to win all three of the major New York races, having previously come first in the Fifth Avenue Mile and the Mini-Marathon 10-kilometre event in Central Park.
After crossing the line she briefly staggered before regaining her composure and was immediately congratulated by Gary Lough, her husband and manager. She clearly had to choke back a tear as she acknowledged the applause of the crowd and warm embrace of her beaten foe. For most of the race Lough had been an anxious spectator, watching on television in the media room overlooking the finish line. The Irishman had been the shoulder on which Radcliffe had cried after Athens. It was only after he gave his go-ahead when she had completed a morale-boosting training run in Flagstaff, Arizona, two weeks ago that she finally decided to race here.
