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Paula Radcliffe's final run

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
Not sure if this occasion is worthy of a thread of it's own, but I couldn't find a general athletics thread (true I didn't look very hard).

Paula Radcliffe runs her last competitive race today (though by all accounts she doesn't expect to be competitive) in the London Marathon. Great runner seemingly jinxed during Olympic years. I once saw her when she was not quite fully fit after an injury and had a bit of fat on her and she was quite a babe when not in stick insect shape. :angel:
 

Magrat Garlick

Global Moderator
Not quite sure how this can be said to be competitive given that she just started and the women's elite division has already been running for an hour
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Her marathon world record time really doesn't get the kudos it should. It is an astonishing achievement.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
The London Marathon is a competitive race and she's running in it - sorry if that's confusing.
Major marathons are really 2 different races though - the elite, proper race and the race that thousands of ordinary joes compete in.

I crossed the start line in Berlin 30 minutes after the elite group, for example (and it was a sobering realisation when I worked out that the elite group would already be 10k down the road.)
 
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Magrat Garlick

Global Moderator
Her marathon world record time really doesn't get the kudos it should. It is an astonishing achievement.
Eight minutes (or 1.5 miles) faster than Tigist Tufa who won today. And today was almost perfect running weather.

So yeah in that sense it was good but it did feel a little like a PR move since they didn't have Farah at the start this year
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
Major marathons are really 2 different races though - the elite, proper race and the race that thousands of ordinary joes compete in.

I crossed the start line in Berlin 30 minutes after the elite group, for example (and it was a sobering realisation when I worked out that the elite group would already be 10k down the road.)
We all know this. I even said in my opening post she wasn't going to be competitive. Anyway no more pointless semantics please - either pay tribute to Paula Radcliffe or go back to bed.


She did a time of 2 hours 36 minutes.
 

Lillian Thomson

Hall of Fame Member
The plea for no more semantics which you conveniently removed was to everyone. In your case you should have gone back to bed after making that point and not bothered with the second post.
 

cpr

International Coach
But it was 1.30 in the afternoon, why would he go back to bed?

Also, he was making quite a good point which those of us (namely, pretty much all of us) who haven't run a marathon might not know, that the 'race' at London isn't open to anyone to just turn up and win - Though that is what happened with the womens race at the smaller Manchester marathon last week.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
But it was 1.30 in the afternoon, why would he go back to bed?

Also, he was making quite a good point which those of us (namely, pretty much all of us) who haven't run a marathon might not know, that the 'race' at London isn't open to anyone to just turn up and win - Though that is what happened with the womens race at the smaller Manchester marathon last week.
It would probably never happen in the majors because of the calibre of athlete that enters but I wonder what would happen if say Mo Farah crosses the line first at the front and then Joe Bloggs who's been placed in a public pen actually crosses the line in a faster time.

Farah would still technically win on gun time I guess but it would be interesting.
 

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