Golden girl Paula is champion of the world (From Warrington Guardian)

Golden girl Paula is champion of the world

DAVENHAM-born athlete Paula Radcliffe proved she was worth her weight in gold by scooping the top accolade in the World Championships in Helsinki.

The 31-year-old world-record holder won global respect by sprinting to gold medal success in the women's marathon event on Sunday in a time of 2h 20m 57s.

And the runner, who grew up in Barnton, was happy to have set a championship record by slashing 64 seconds off the previous glory of defending champion and silver-medal winning Catherine Ndereba of Kenya.

Paula said: "It does feel brilliant. It's just a relief. I knew I was in good shape and it was important to show that. It pretty much went according to plan.

"It was my plan to keep a decent pace and just do some surges.

"The last lap was hard as I was getting conflicting information but I just kept my head down and kept going."

And Paula - who famously crashed out of the Athens Olympics last summer - said she is pleased to silence her critics.

She added: "The biggest pressure comes from myself because I knew I had worked really hard this year but had to go out there and prove it.

"It is totally different to last year because I came in in good shape and with no health worries."

And Paula's husband and coach Gary Lough joined members of the athlete's family to toast her achievements.

Paula said: "He's just happy. Everybody is just relieved. It's a victory for all of us. It was really emotional on the lap of honour. Halfway round it suddenly hit me."

Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania claimed bronze in the marathon race with a time of 2h 23m 19s.