BBC documentary on Paula Radcliffe and the marathon

I came across this video recently about Paula Radcliffe and her marathon career. It was shown on the BBC last April.

Paula Radcliffe ends career with 2:36 marathon

After years of injury, Paula Radcliffe made a return to competitive running in this years London Marathon to finish in an impressive time of 2:36:55. The World record holder who is now  41 years old holds 4 of the 10 fastest marathon times ever.

All-time women's best marathon

1      2:15:25    Paula Radcliffe                GBR     17.12.73    1      London                   13.04.2003
2      2:17:18    Paula Radcliffe                GBR     17.12.73    1      Chicago                  13.10.2002
3      2:17:42    Paula Radcliffe                GBR     17.12.73    1      London                   17.04.2005
4      2:18:37    Mary Keitany                   KEN     18.01.82    1      London                   22.04.2012
5      2:18:47    Catherine N'dereba             KEN     21.07.72    1      Chicago                  07.10.2001
6      2:18:56    Paula Radcliffe                GBR     17.12.73    1      London                   14.04.2002
7      2:18:58    Tiki Gelana                    ETH     22.10.87    1      Rotterdam                15.04.2012
8      2:19:12    Mizuki Noguchi                 JPN     03.07.78    1      Berlin                   25.09.2005
9     2:19:19    Irina Mikitenko                GER     23.08.72    1      Berlin                   28.09.2008
9     2:19:19    Mary Keitany                   KEN     18.01.82    1      London                   17.04.2011

What a great way to finish off her career when it looked as if she would never run again. Three years ago, she had surgery on her foot and here she is today with a time that is inside the qualifying time for the Rio Olympics.

The BBC have a short report HERE

Over Paula's career, one of the people she went to for injuries was physical therapist Gerard Hartmann from Limerick. There is an excellent interview on the Running Times website HERE

Gebrselassie To Chase Radcliffe In Vienna Half-Marathon

This unique Half-Marathon race is coming up in Vienna on Sunday, the 15th of April. The holder of the womens Marathon record, Paula Radcliffe, will race against the great Haile Gebrselassie, the former holder of the mens Marathon record.

In a press release, the organisers said.....
"The British world marathon record holder had been announced earlier as a competitor in the half marathon. She will now start the race with a time advantage and Haile Gebrselassie will chase her. We are absolutely thrilled to be able to present our spectators a race of which you could only dream of. Haile running against Paula – two inspiring personalities and may be the two best runners of all times up against each other – this is something unique in the world of road running."

Haile Gebrselassie won the race in 2011 with a course record of 60:18 minutes. A year ago he received a tremendous reception by the spectators, politicians from the city and even the President of Austria had invited the two time Olympic 10,000 m Champion for a reception. 

The time advantage for Paula Radcliffe will be determined nearer to the race. She will start her race on her own while Haile Gebrselassie and the whole field will be chasing her on the way to the finish.

Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 will remain as the official world record

Back in September, the IAAF said they would reduce Paula Radcliffe’s marathon world record to a ‘world best’ as there were male pacemakers in the race. Following an appeal by Radcliffe and growing opposition, the IAAF have decided to leave her 2:15:25 times as the official womens Marathon record.

Now, the IAAF is expected to work out a system where the records in mixed races could stand side-by-side with records in all-women races once they get the terminology sorted out.

Many in the sport agree that women run marathons faster when paced by men, since keeping up with men can provide a target to aim for. Running in a group of men can also be less tiring if they shield the athlete from incoming wind.

While the Radcliffe issue may have been sorted out, the fact that any records set in future mixed races are likely to be counted separately means that this story has still a bit to go. What happens if at some future date a woman runs 2:15:20 in a mixed race? If she is denied the title of the Marathon record, could she not point to Paula Radcliffe and say you counted her time, why not mine? How can the old record then be valid if someone else breaks it in the same circumstances? Still sounds like a mess.

Paula Radcliffe campaigns against new IAAF ruling

In an earlier post, I had a look at the new International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rule which said that womens records could not be set in mixed races. This rule then in effect made Paula Radcliffe's 2:15 Marathon record invalid. Well, it seems as if there is now a growing campaign to get the IAAF ruling changed.

Paula Radcliffe has now hit back saying that that the new ruling by the International Association of Athletics Federations discriminates against women. Radcliffe met the IAAF's president, Lamine Diack, in Monaco last week to lobby him to reverse the ruling. "He seemed to really take on board what I was saying, so now we just have to see what they do about it. The ball is back in his court."

According to Radcliffe there is a good chance that the old records – including her marathon time of 2hr 15min 25sec, set in London in 2003 – will at least be included in the record books as a footnote. Although happy that her time may not be struck off altogether, Radcliffe is still irritated by the rule itself. The IAAF will not be able to consider changing it until its next congress in 2013. "I do think that the rule is unfair," Radcliffe said. "It penalises women. It limits the amount of chances we have to set records because the majority of road races are mixed.

"They won't be able to do anything about changing the rule now. But they may be able to take away the retroactive aspect. That was really harsh. It was not just my world record but a lot of people's national records, area records, they were just suddenly wiped out. It seemed like your efforts were devalued." She pointed out that when the IAAF redesigned javelins, in 1986 and 1999, the previous records were included in the books as footnotes, and she has suggested to Diack that a similar thing is done with women's long-distance records.

Radcliffe's sponsors, Nike, organised a canny marketing campaign on Radcliffe's behalf, with the slogan "History Stands", and she said she was overwhelmed by the amount of public support she had received. "At the end of the day women are out there running on their own two feet and through their own effort. It was a really big step that London made in 2003 to put the men in with the women's race so I was really conscious that I never ran behind them. I was racing them. You won't find one image of me running behind them. I was always alongside them, I didn't talk to them beforehand and we didn't set a pace. I was racing the guy and I was really annoyed that he actually beat me."

Info from the Guardian Newspaper and the Telegraph