News22 Apr 2015


Radcliffe to receive London Marathon Lifetime Achievement Award

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Paula Radcliffe crosses the finish at the 2003 London Marathon (© Getty Images)

Paula Radcliffe will receive the inaugural John Disley London Marathon Lifetime Achievement Award after she competes in the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday (26).

The women’s world record holder for the classic distance and IAAF Ambassador will run what is expected to be her final competitive race at the 35th London Marathon, an event she won three times in four years between 2002 and 2005.

Radcliffe, now 41, will be presented with the trophy by the 1952 Olympic Games 3000m steeplechase bronze medallist John Disley, who co-founded the event with the late Chris Brasher in 1981.

Radcliffe smashed the women’s world record with her second London Marathon victory in 2003, running 2:15:25, which is still almost three minutes faster than any other woman in history has completed the distance.

She broke the world record for a women’s only race on her last appearance 10 years ago, 2:17:42, a time that still stands as the official London Marathon course record.

Radcliffe has fought back from a serious foot injury to be able to run one last time in the event which first inspired her as a child in the early 1980s when she travelled to London from her home in Bedford to watch her father run.

This new London Marathon award will be made to people who have made an outstanding contribution to the event – whether they are an elite runner, a charity runner, or an official. 

London Marathon Race Director Hugh Brasher welcomed Radcliffe back to the London Marathon.

“We are delighted to have Paula running with us again this year,” said Brasher. “I can’t think of a more deserving inaugural winner of the John Disley London Marathon Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Anyone who saw Paula’s world record in 2003 will remember it as one of the outstanding athletics performances of our time. She is one of only three women to win the race more than twice and her attitude and achievements have played a huge role in boosting women’s running.”

Organisers for the IAAF

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