ATHLETICS/News: Paula Radcliffe will head to the US on Friday to begin preparations for the Commonwealth Games and the London Marathon after winning the Vallecana Sylvester road race in Madrid.
Radcliffe, after the mini-drama of an over-enthusiastic spectator accidentally throwing a streamer into her mouth, recovered to easily win the Spanish 10-kilometre event in a time of 31 minutes 16 seconds.
"It really was a good way to round off 2005," said Radcliffe, whose London Marathon victory last April and World Championships gold medal at the distance in the summer highlighted another highly successful year.
"There are no problems, no after effects, I'm feeling great," Radcliffe said of the incident after comfortably defeating Jelena Prokopcuka.
"I suppose I kind of expected it might happen, but when it did, it came as a surprise," added the world marathon record holder, well aware the race's festive nature sees streamers and shaving cream thrown every year.
Radcliffe quickly recovered her composure to beat her Latvian rival by 35 seconds with Marta Dominguez, the host nation's reigning European 5,000 metres title holder, third in 33:22.
"Really I wanted to have a hard race, but with the fiesta atmosphere a vital part of the meeting, it was never going to happen," said Radcliffe, surrounded by fans around the tightly packed course.
Radcliffe insisted the streamer affair bore no resemblance to the seriousness of the incident last summer when she was tripped and fell badly in a 1,500 metres at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.
"It was never on the scale of what happened there - that could have messed up my whole season," she said of the six-woman collision.
The pile-up in the oversize field at the US's top IAAF Grand Prix meeting sent her crashing to the ground, although she picked herself up and finished sixth.
Now Radcliffe, having ended her 2005 season on a winning note, will set up her training base in the town of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to kickstart her New Year's preparations.
Then in Melbourne in March she has the opportunity to defend her 5,000 metres gold medal, which she won almost three years ago when setting a Commonwealth record of 14 minutes 31.42 seconds in Manchester.
But she also has been chosen by Team England for the 10,000 metres, a more favourable and likely distance, given it would be more in line with the her build-up to the following month's London Marathon.
"London is a very important race for me and along with the Commonwealths, I will be totally focused on it during the next couple of months. I'm really looking forward to chasing a fourth win there," said Radcliffe, who if she realised her ambition would match the achievement of her idol, the Norwegian Ingrid Kristiansen.
It is the clearest indication yet she will turn down the opportunity to chase a third title at the IAAF World Cross Country, which takes place in Japan just a week after the Commonwealth Games finish.
However, the British team selectors have left the door open for her until March 11th, to confirm she is prepared to compete in Fukuoka, hosting the championships on April 1st and 2nd.
But with the London Marathon three weeks later clearly much closer to her heart and first ambitions of 2006, it seems her cross-country season will be on hold for at least another winter.
