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British Runner Paula Radcliffe Wins Bikila Award

Britain?s world marathon record holder, Paula Radcliffe, has won the prestigious Bikila award for 2006. The New York Road Runners organization awards this honor to individuals who make outstanding contributions to distance running and is given in memory of double Olympic marathon runner from Ethiopia, Abebe Bikila. Only five years after winning his second gold medal, Bikila became paralyzed from the waist down, following a motor accident, and died in 1973.

32 year-old Paula Radcliffe, who has won six wins in seven marathon starts, achieved four out of the five fastest women?s times in her glittering athletics career. She holds the world record, which she set at the London Marathon in 2003, for 2 hours, 15 minutes and 25 seconds. This young, blonde Briton has won titles in Chicago and New York and is a three-time winner in London. In the 2005 Helsinki World Championships marathon, Paula Radcliffe captured the gold medal.

The list of previous outstanding winners of the Abebe Bikila award includes Alberto Salazer, Tegla Loroupe, Bill Rodgers and Lasse Viren. 2004 Olympic marathon champion from Japan, Mizuki Noguchi was last year?s recipient of the award. In a statement to the press, Paula Radcliffe modestly declared: ?It is a great honor for me to receive such an award?. Radcliffe went on to say that the Bikila award represented so much in distance running and she felt very privileged to join the ranks of other prestigious athletes.