Radcliffe off the pace to cast shadow over her Olympic dream

The 38-year-old recorded her slowest time over the distance, finishing in one hour, 12 minutes and three seconds, in a race which had been billed as a head to head between Radcliffe and Haile Gebrselassie.

Radcliffe finished over 11 minutes behind the Ethiopian double Olympic champion after receiving a head start of almost eight minutes, and admitted her struggles could not solely be attributed to a bout of bronchitis for which she has been taking anti-biotics.

“I just didn’t really feel good after six or seven kilometres,” she said.

“My legs just wouldn’t move properly and I was fighting harder than I should have been just to keep moving.”

n Leeds City won medals in both the men’s 12-stage race and the women’s six-stage event at the National Road Relay Championship at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, on Saturday.

The men’s team, disappointing when they finished fourth in the Northern Championships, finished runners up to Tipton Harriers and were given a great start by James Smith, who finished sixth on the highly competitive opening stage with a fine time of 26.26 for the long leg. After Mike Burrett had dropped to 11th, James Walsh stormed through into second place with 26.14, the fastest Leeds long stage runner and the fifth fastest overall.

Michael Salter gave Leeds the lead on stage five and after dropping to fourth on the next two stages, James Wilkinson took them back to second with 26.21 for his long stage and that is where they remained to the end.

The Leeds women’s team took bronze medals behind runaway winners Aldershot and Farnham and Swansea, after finishing fourth in the Northerns.

Susan Partridge – missing for the Northerns – made all the difference , taking her team from 11th to fourth. Sarah Peterson held fourth before Katie Parry took Leeds into the bronze medal position which Claire Duck comfortably held.

Northern champions Rotherham finished seventh.