Fleet of feet, not fleeting fame- Paula R.

Paula Radcliffe recalls her 'impossible' London marathon record run | Sport | The Observer: "On 13 April 2003, Paula Radcliffe set a world record in the London marathon that was dubbed unbeatable. London's then race director, and former 10,000m world record holder, Dave Bedford described her time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds as "the greatest distance running performance I have seen in my lifetime, it ranks in my mind with the impact of Bob Beamon's long jump in 1968." Beamonesque … And as her physio would describe it, simply something else – like travelling to Mars.

Radcliffe's achievement sent reverberations around the world. Not only had the Briton beaten her own world record of 2:17.18 set the year before in Chicago – knocking a minute and a half off the efforts of the previous holder, the formidable Catherine Ndereba – but she had sliced off almost two minutes more. Those margins of improvement were, at the time, simply unimaginable.

A decade on and no woman has come within 2½ minutes of that run. Radcliffe still dominates the all-time records list and her name appears beside the three fastest marathon times in history."

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