LONG distance running queen Paula Radcliffe will start as one of the hottest favourites for a Commonwealth Games gold medal when she returns to her native North West this summer.

But despite an astonishing marathon debut victory in London yesterday, Northwich-born Radcliffe will be tackling shorter distances in the City of Manchester Stadium in July.

The World cross country and World half marathon champion is likely to contest the 10,000 metres. And after the tears of Sydney when she finished fourth in the event following one of the bravest runs of her career, Radcliffe's form since then has marked her down as the one to beat in Manchester.

Sunday's winning run of 2hrs 18 mins 56 secs was the second fastest ever time by a female athlete, just nine seconds down on Catherine Ndereba's world record.

She finished well clear of her nearest challengers-Russia''s Svetlana Zakharova (2:22:31) and Lyudmila Petrova (2:22:33).

The 28-year-old''s time for 26 miles 385 yards shattered Veronique Marot's national best of 2:25:56 that has stood for 13 years. It also broke Joyce Chepchumba's three-year-old women's course record of 2:23:22 and Ingrid Kristoansen's European best time of 2:21:06 from 1985.

Breaking clear

And Radcliffe's brilliant display ensured she full deserved the massive pay day of £160,000 plus a six-figure appearance fee.

She broke clear of her chief rivals - including defending champion and pre-race favourite Derartu Tulu - after seven miles and never looked back.

With the time clock not working on the lead car it was not until the final 800 metres Radcliffe realised she might approach the world record.

She continued: "I ran as hard as I could but couldn't do it. I was stupid really - I should have looked at my watch."

Although London will again figure in her marathon career, Radcliffe is still unsure when her next attempt at the distance will be made.

She missed Catherine Ndereba's world record by only nine seconds and said: "That can wait for another day, when I am mentally prepared for it."

'A natural'

Ndereba's time will be something for Radcliffe to chase. But in her maiden marathon only three weeks after defending her World Cross Country title, the Bedford athlete took to the distance like a duck to water.

Changing her pre-race plan to hit the front at around 17 miles, she destroyed the strongest field ever assembled for any international marathon.

The winning time of 2hrs 18mins 56secs - apart from being the world's second fastest ever, broke Ingrid Kristiansen's European mark of 2hrs 21mins 6secs and the British best of 2hrs 25mins 26secs by Veronique Marot.

It was also easily the fastest time ever achieved by a marathon debutant, beating the 2hrs 23mins 11secs performance of Yoko Shibui.

If Radcliffe's performance was superb then Khalid Khannouchi's victory through the packed streets of the capital was equalling amazing.

World 5,000 and 10,000 metres record holder Haile Gebrselassie claimed an Ethiopian record of 2hrs 06.35mins on his debut but Khannouchi took four seconds off his three-year-old world record of 2hrs 05.42mins, finishing 10secs ahead of Paul Tergat - runner-up for the second successive year.

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