NEWCASTLE, England Paula Radcliffe returned second behind American Kara Goucher at the Great North Run. The American runner took the womens race in 1 hour, 10 minutes, 17 seconds, the quickest half marathon of the year. "My focus all year has been Osaka, and it wasn't until after that that this was even an option," said Goucher "I'd never run anything longer than 10K, so I just wanted to stick with the leaders for as long as possible." Radcliffe finished 56 seconds behind still holds the course record at 1:05:40. "I don't want to be flying now because it's a long time to hold on, but at the same time I want to be winning races," Radcliffe explained in what can only be a reference to her planned assult on the Beijing Olympic marathon. "My pride's taken a little bit of a bashing. I came out here wanting to win the race, but it is good to be back."

Labels: Beijing, goucher, olympics, radcliffe