PAULA Radcliffe revealed her challenge for a fourth ING New York City Marathon title was undone by a tendon injury.
Radcliffe's reign as champion came to an end yesterday as the British world record holder placed fourth behind Ethiopian veteran Derartu Tulu.
After six months on the sidelines recovering from bunion surgery, Radcliffe was running her first marat
hon since winning this race 12 months ago. The 35-year-old had missed the world championship marathon in Berlin in August and sat out the world half-marathon championships in Birmingham last month due to tonsillitis.
This time, though, she revealed tendinitis behind her knee started to take its toll before the halfway stage of the race.
"I knew I was fit coming in, it felt great, then at 11 miles it just went," Radcliffe said. "For the last miles I was just thinking 'just hang in there' as long as I could. Just try to stay with them."
In windy conditions the Briton had led from the gun but the relatively slow pace meant she had been unable to shake off her rivals and at 23 miles was dropped from the leading quartet as Russia's Ludmila Petrova took off followed by Tulu and France's Christelle Daunay.
"I couldn't believe they weren't running faster," Radcliffe said.
"I was thinking 'hang in' and as the finish started getting closer I thought I had a chance. But when they got away, uphill, I couldn't go like the downhill."
Two-time Olympic 10,000m champion Tulu, 37, won the race in two hours 28 minutes and 52 seconds, eight seconds ahead of the Russian with Daunay third in 2:29:16 holding off a late Radcliffe rally, the Briton finishing fourth in 2:29:27
Radcliffe revealed she had had a cortisone injection last week to help with the problem.
"I was feeling really bad, like Wednesday, Thursday but once they got it on Friday, I ran last night, and I couldn't feel it. I was thinking, finally it's okay, I'm just very disappointed.
Staffordshire's Michelle Ross Cope finished in 16th place and Londoner Catherine Wilding came 24th.
In the men's race Meb Keflezighi became the first American since Alberto Salazar in 1982 to win in New York, shaking off Robert Cheruiyot over the final mile to take victory in 2:09.15.
In the women's wheelchair marathon, Britain's Shelly Woods claimed second place for the third time in New York as Switzerland's 37-year-old Edith Hunkeler defended her title.
The men's wheelchair race saw defending champion Kurt Fearnley of Australia win a fourth title by outsprinting South African Krige Schabort.
