Ndereba anger at pacemaker ruling

Ndereba anger at pacemaker ruling

Paula Radcliffe's request for a pacemaker has angered Catherine Ndereba

Catherine Ndereba could pull out of next month's London marathon after objecting to plans to allow elite women runners a male pacemaker in the race.

Marathon chiefs turned down a request from Paula Radcliffe to let men and women run together, but agreed to allow a pacemaker as she bids to break her own world record.

Radcliffe broke Ndereba's world record in the 2002 Chicago marathon - where men and women run together - after running with a pack of elite male athletes.

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London race director David Bedford said Ndereba objected to the pacemaker idea, although the other elite women were happy with the plan.

"The great majority were in agreement," Bedford told the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday.

"Catherine Ndereba didn't want male pacemakers and wasn't happy with a mixed race.

"You'd have to ask her whether she is still coming or not."

Ndereba and her agent Lisa Buster were not available for comment.

Radcliffe believes a pacemaker will give her an extra incentive to win the event for the second time in April.

"This arrangement will help me discover my true worth over the distance," she said.

"It is obviously very difficult to find (female) pacemakers who can go fast enough for me."

Radcliffe won the 2002 London Marathon in the quickest ever time for a women's-only race.

But the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) did not register her feat because they only ratify records set in mixed races.

She did not have to wait long to get in the record books, however, going on to run even faster in Chicago.