Cheshire’s mighty Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE is one of the last remaining athletics record-holders.
The three-time London Marathon winner shattered the record during the year 2003 race with a time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds – more than 3 minutes below anyone else in history.
Race director Dave Bedford, a former 10,000m world champion himself, called it “the greatest distance running performance I’ve seen in my lifetime; it ranks in my mind alongside the impact of Bob Beamon’s long jump in 1968”. Radcliffe’s mark has stood for 12 years and she continues to hold the three fastest women’s marathon times ever.
