PORTSMOUTH (England), Oct 25: British distance running star Paula Radcliffe hopes the 10-mile Great South Run here on Sunday will provide her with just the tune-up she needs before she defends her New York Marathon title.

Radcliffe suffered fresh Olympic heartache in Beijing when a fractured left femur left her short of full fitness and down the field in a lowly 23rd place.

But a week before her return to running in the Big Apple, the 34-year-old Radcliffe will look to get back to doing what she does best by setting a strong pace in Portsmouth.

Radcliffe is the stand-out name in a field of 19,500 runners, with Kenya’s Magdalene Mukunzi, runner-up in the recent Great North Run, expected to be one of her strongest challengers.“I just want to go out and have a really good run-out,” said Radcliffe. “To be honest this week isn’t about breaking records – it’s about sharpening and tuning up for next week. “But having said that I want to have a good blow-out. Success will be to win the race, feel good and blow out the cobwebs race-wise.”

Radcliffe, who has been training at her Font Romeu base in the French Pyrenees, added: “It is a bit of a sharpen-up, essentially using it to replace my last tempo run in training.

Radcliffe insisted she had no regrets about running at the Olympics, even though her injury left her short of the fitness that comes only from pounding out mile after mile.

“That is what was missing in Beijing,” stated the Englishwoman. “I just had not done enough running and you cannot take a short cut in a marathon.

—AFP