13-Oct-2002 – Chicago Marathon – 2:17:18 – Nike Air Streak Ekiden V
Date of birth: 17-Dec-1973
Nationality: English
World Record duration: 6 months
The athlete:
Paula Radcliffe had already enjoyed success at shorter distances, leading to her competing in the 5,000 metres at the 1996 Olympics. She would make her half-marathon debut in 1999 at the Great North Run, setting the second fastest British time in the process. Radcliffe would again participate at the 2000 Olympics, making the final for the 10,000 metres. Taking victory at the half-marathon world championships, Radcliffe would go on to defend her title in 2001. It was somewhat inevitable that she would finally turn her attention to the marathon, and she would make her debut at the 2002 London Marathon.
She was dominant, winning in a time of 2:18:55, the new course record and less than ten seconds behind the world record at the time set by Catherine Ndereba. All eyes were on the newcomer as she took the start of the Chicago Marathon later that year. Despite forecasts threatening rain, competitors were met with cool and sunny conditions. For the first ten miles, there were only three other women in touch with her, including Ndereba. By the halfway mark Radcliffe was already two minutes ahead of her debut pace.
Ndereba continued pushing on, and was right behind Radcliffe by the time they reached the 15th mile. By the next mile, Radcliffe was able to start putting distance between herself and Ndereba. With each passing mile Radcliffe’s lead grew. By the 23rd mile the gap was 66 seconds between the pair. This was where Radcliffe was met with 15-20 mile an hour headwinds, with her escort (running alongside, instead of a pacemaker running in front) for the race advising her that her pace was 5:23 minutes per mile. Radcliffe responded by accelerating into the wind, and would finish the second half of the event faster than the first. She would eventually cross the line in 2:17:18, cutting nearly 80 seconds from the previous world record.
2002 was an overall spectacular year for Radcliffe, who would also win gold in the 5,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games, gold in the 10,000 metres at the European Championships, and gold at the World Cross Country Championships adding to her gold from the previous year’s event. She would round off the year by winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, recognition for her incredible achievements. It would not be her last time in the spotlight, and you can read about that next chapter here.
The shoes:
Her shoes were the Nike Air Streak Ekiden V, the latest evolution in the Air Streak Ekiden series that had launched in 1995 alongside the Air Streak and Air Streak Light. Steven Smith designed the lightweight runners, joining Nike in 1999 and soon contributing designs for the Japan branch in the hope of revitalising flagging sales.
Radcliffe settled on the Air Streak Ekiden V after apparently having experimented with many other Nike models, rejecting some of the more extreme options in the Air Streak family. Even so, Radcliffe apparently rapidly went through pairs of the Air Streak Ekiden V due to her gait. Custom pairs were made for her with the distinct flame design, inspired by Smith’s love of hot rod culture.
After setting two world records, Radcliffe would change to the Zoom Marathoner for almost the rest of her marathon career. Nike continued to make the model for her, similar to how they provided Catherine Ndereba examples of the Air Streak Ekiden IV long after it had been superseded.
The Zoom Marathoner was designed around Radcliffe and her running style, with many more wins coming her way in them. For her win at the 2008 New York City Marathon Radcliffe switched to the heavier Pegasus T/C while recovering from injury, and for her last marathon at the 2015 London Marathon she wore the Nike Air Zoom Elite 7.
As for the Air Streak Ekiden V, it appears that only a more conservative colourway was released publicly, the same silver Radcliffe wore at her marathon debut. The same midsole tooling was used on the Air Streak Spectrum Plus, but the upper overlays were subtly different. It did however give consumers the chance to have the same flames as the version of the Air Streak Ekiden V worn by Radcliffe.
I had initially misidentified her shoes as the Air Streak Spectrum Plus until Brendan Dunne published an excellent article on the history of the model. The Air Streak Spectrum Plus released in 2003 and later rereleased in 2018, noting again that it was the Air Streak Ekiden V that Radcliffe wore to set the marathon world record. Whether that model will similarly see rerelease is yet to be seen.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Radcliffe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/2324527.stm
https://www.defynewyork.com/2018/11/19/late-year-revisit-of-the-original-nike-air-streak-spectrum-plus-with-zoom-air-2003/
https://www.letsrun.com/2003/escortingpaula.php
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-10-06-0210060314-story.html
https://www.time-to-run.com/marathon/chicago/report-2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/specials/london_marathon_2002/1929069.stm
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj_MdhFFnbZ/
http://drewhammell.com/
https://www.retrolab-shop.com/
https://www.complex.com/sneakers/a/brendan-dunne/nike-zoom-streak-spectrum-plus-ekiden-flame-shoe-paula-radcliffe
https://www.instagram.com/stevensmith/
https://sport-locker.net/2015/04/22/nike-honours-paula-radcliffe-ahead-of-the-london-marathon-with-thankspaula-campaign/