Radcliffe happy to beat Wami in New York marathon win

NEW YORK: Paula Radcliffe was in familiar territory on Sunday, controling a race from the front with rival Gete Wami on her shoulder, and this time the Briton was all smiles after a New York City Marathon win.

Radcliffe made a triumphant return to marathon racing after two years off to have her first child by winning a race-long, head-to-head duel with the 32-year-old Ethiopian.

"It was very important for me to win this race. I'm not going to lie about it," said Radcliffe, 33, who gave birth in January to her daughter, Isla.

"I came here to win, and to be honest I was happy with the way things panned out."

Wami has won more than her share against Radcliffe in past confrontations, using a faster finishing kick to sweep by.

"I've been racing her, I think, since 1992," Radcliffe told reporters after winning in two hours, 23 minutes, nine seconds. "In '99 Seville (world championships), she beat me there.

"She was in front of me in Sydney (2000 Olympics), she was in front of me in Edmonton (2001 world championships)."

Radcliffe and Wami, who was racing just 35 days after winning the Berlin Marathon, broke from the other elite runners in the second mile and staged a match race the rest of the way.

The Briton never looked back until soon before the end when she saw Wami fade some 10 meters. The Ethiopian closed the gap again and edged past for a few moments before Radcliffe surged to victory over the last 300 meters.

"When you come into the final couple of miles, the fact that I know her very well and I know that she can finish very fast, and I'm going to really need to be right on top of my game to be able to stay with her, that's nerve-racking.

"At the same time, it's different sprinting at the end of a marathon to just sprinting on the track and running flat out 400 meters."

Radcliffe was not going to let Wami pass without a fight.

"She kind of made a move and I responded to it as fast as I could. But at the same time I was really making sure that for me it was a gradual wind-up so I could get faster at 300, get faster again at 200 and then the final 100."

Wami faded under Radcliffe's rush to the finish line, crossing 23 seconds later.

Radcliffe collected $170,000 including a time bonus for her victory.

As consolation, the Ethiopian clinched the world marathon majors title for $500,000 plus another $100,000 from the race.

"I don't think I had anything to prove," said Radcliffe, who has won seven of eight marathons she has entered, missing only at the 2004 Athens Olympics when she did not finish.

"I think I was just enjoying being back, to be honest," said the Briton, who is aiming for success at next year's Beijing Olympics.

Agencies

(China Daily 11/06/2007 page23)