Radcliffe determined to battle on

PAULA Radcliffe insists she has no intention of throw in the towel despite seeing surgery ruin her London 2012 ambitions.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Paula Radcliffe reacts after running the half marathon race during the Vienna City Marathon.

PAULA Radcliffe insists she has no intention of throw in the towel despite seeing surgery ruin her London 2012 ambitions.The 38-year-old might still be the female world record holder but has run just one marathon since 2009.And her injury curse hit again this summer as she was forced to pull out of the London Olympics on the eve of the competition thanks to a foot injury.However Radcliffe has since gone under the knife to correct the problem and is already eyeing up a return to action – although April’s London marathon might come too soon for her.With UK Athletics not seeing her as an Olympic medal contender for Rio in 2016 she also had her National Lottery funding cut in October, but she is adamant she is far from finished just yet."I’m kind of at that crossroads coming off a big surgery and I desperately don’t want my career to be finished,” she said."It’s going in the right direction. I’m staying really positive and the goal is to be back running by Christmas and building up to racing next year."I would love to be in London ten years on from setting the world record there, but I think that is going to be very close and I’m more likely looking at a 10K race or half-marathon in the spring, building up to a marathon in the autumn.”