Victory sprint rehearsed by confident Paula.Paula Radcliffe spent days rehearsing the final paces of the New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race run over a 42,195 m (26.2 mile) course through all five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon race in the world, and with 37,866 finishers in 2006, was also the largest marathon race ever run. so she could triumph in a sprint finish, she revealed yesterday.The 30-year-old athlete said she practised the closing metres of the race, in New York's Central Park, over and over again, so she knew exactly how to make the final push for glory. In the event, she surged ahead of her Kenyan-born rival Susan Chepkemei Susan Chepkemei (born 25 June 1975 in Kapkama) is a female Kenyan long-distance runner, who competes in the 10000m and Marathon. In 2001 she won the Rotterdam Marathon and came first in the Great North Run, as well as winning the silver medal in the World Half Marathon with just metres to go, making it the closest finish in the history of the prestigious race. And with victory, she put behind her the nightmare of Athens, where she pulled up in both the marathon and 10,000 metres. Describing the closing moments of the race, Radcliffe said today: "I was pretty confident that I could win in a sprint finish, so I was really just trying to gauge my finish. "I had run the closing stages quite a few times over the last couple of days, so I knew when I got close to the hill there was about 100 metres to go," she said. Radcliffe said the victory helped her move on from her "terrible time" during the Olympics. "I have put it behind me and I've moved on from there and the victory here in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of was special in its own right regardless of what happened at the Olympics," she said. Radcliffe, the world record holder, completed the 26.2 mile course in two hours 23 minutes and 10 seconds, outside the course record of 2:22:31 and behind her own world record of 2:15:25. She ran neck and neck with Chepkemei, 29, right up until the final metres. But it was not all plain sailing plain sailing Noun 1. Informal smooth or easy progress 2. Naut sailing in a body of water that is unobstructed; clear sailing Noun 1. . She revealed she woke the night before the race with a stomach ache as a result of eating a reheated spaghetti bolognese. She feared it could ruin her race, and felt stomach pains after 22 miles. But she knew she could beat Chepkemei if it came to a sprint finish, and held on. |
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