Paula Radcliffe admits she will be annoyed by the slowness of her time in her farewell marathon – but is grateful that she can even run at all. The 41-year-old, who set the world record of 2hr 15min 25sec in London in 2003, was hoping to go under two hours and 30 minutes on Sunday but has revised that after injuries to her achilles tendon left her struggling to make the start line.
“It will annoy me that my time is slow, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s been a bigger battle for me to actually be able to be here,” she said. “But just to have the chance and the honour to take part in this race again has been a carrot to keep going. That’s why I was more pig-headed through my latest injury.”
However, Radcliffe fears that some of the 750,000 people who are expected to line the streets of London will be left frustrated by her performance. In her previous marathons she ran with elite athletes. This time she will start with club runners. “People watching will be really frustrated,” she said. “Because they still expect you to be right up there. But I am not going to be competitive. It’s almost more for me, my little battle to come back and take part in this brilliant race one more time.”
There will be other changes to Radcliffe’s usual routine. “Because I am on the mass start I won’t get my drinks and I’m used to being spoiled all the way round a marathon,” she said. “It will be a lot more relaxed, but at the same time I’m not going to be stopping and chatting to people. I still want to give it an honest effort, even though I know it’s not going to be anywhere near a personal best.”
Among the crowd will be her family, including her husband, Gary Lough, and her children, Isla, eight, and Raphael, four. “I have probably got more family coming to watch than when I was racing,” she said. “But my daughter Isla is more excited that she has got her tickets to Mamma Mia! on Monday.”
“Isla was in New York when she was little but she doesn’t really remember my race,” Radcliffe said. “Gary teased her one time. I came back from a run and she was crying at the door. I said: ‘What’s wrong?’ She said: ‘Mummy, is it true that you were holding me up in that picture to see if anybody wanted to buy me?’ She had been naughty while I was out and Gary told her: ‘Mummy was only doing that to see if anybody wanted you.’”
Joyce Smith, the winner of the first London marathon, in 1981, has hailed Radcliffe as the greatest distance runner of all time and believes her world record may never be broken. “She’s the top, isn’t she? “ she said. “I can’t see her 2:15:25 being beaten for a very long time. Even the Kenyans are still not getting near it. Perhaps it will never get caught. She is an amazing athlete.”
Radcliffe’s final marathon will start at 10.10am on Sunday. The elite women’s race, featuring Mary Keitany – the second-fastest women in history – begins at 9.20am, while the elite men’s race, which features the much-awaited showdown between Dennis Kimetto, the world record holder, and Wilson Kipsang, last year’s winner, also begins at 10.10am.
