Among the marathon community, she is a ‘rock star’. She has first name recognition. When marathoners mention “Paula“, it is Paula Radcliffe. On this Sunday morning, she will be in New York City:
“… Today she will be going for her third in a row, her fourth in total. Her year thus far has been hamstrung by injury and illness. She withdrew from the London Marathon in April because of a foot operation. She missed the World Championships in Berlin in August because she was not ready to race the full marathon distance, and withdrew from the World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham last month because of tonsillitis. Still, such is her pedigree – the fastest female marathon runner of all time by a distance, with her 2hr 15 min 25sec clocking in London in 2003, winner of eight of her 10 marathons (the two failures having come when illness and injury struck at Olympic time) – she lines up on Staten Island the clear favourite…”
link to the article by Simon Turnbull for The Independent
[Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images]
