Athletics: Bronchitis Rules Radcliffe Out of Tilt at 15km Record

Paula Radcliffe may turn her attention to next month's European Cross Country Championships after withdrawing yesterday from a race in the Netherlands because of bronchitis.

The world champion and record holder for the marathon had been hoping to run in the Seven Hills Race over 15km in Nijmegen on Sunday week. Radcliffe's target would have been the world's best time of 46min 57sec set by South Africa's Elana Meyer - a time she has beaten unofficially in a half-marathon - but she has been forced to abandon the attempt.

"Unfortunately Paula is not in the best of shape," her manager and husband Gary Lough said."Paula's aim for this 15km road race was to run really fast but as a result of the bronchitis she has been suffering from she is not fit enough to do so."

Radcliffe is also expected to withdraw from Britain's team to run in the Ekiden road relay in Chiba, Japan, on November 23. That would be a disappointment to the organisers in Japan, where her popularity is enormous, and would also leave Radcliffe without a target during the rest of the year. It is a void she could fill by aiming for the European cross-country in Tilburg, also in the Netherlands, on December 11.

Radcliffe has competed in the race twice before, winning on each occasion, in 1998 and 2003. Her participation would almost guarantee Britain's women the overall team prize as she would join a squad that includes Hayley Yelling, the defending champion, and Jo Pavey, the bronze medallist last year. The team won the silver medal last year.

A victory in Tilburg would also boost Radcliffe in her preparations for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next March. She is the defending 5,000m champion but is considering running the 10,000m. She may even run both if she feels in good enough shape. She is then expected to compete in the world cross country championships in Fukuoka, Japan, before aiming for a record-equalling fourth victory in the London Marathon on April 23. Her immediate aim, though, is to recover full fitness. "At the moment we are just playing everything from day to day," said Lough.

Nic Bideau, Australia's most successful agent of the last decade and the partner of Sonia O'Sullivan, has given an insight into the amounts of money the Briton can earn. Bideau, who represents the world 5,000m bronze medallist Craig Mottram and former world cross country champion Benita Johnson, said: "Paula Radcliffe can get $500,000 to run a marathon and $200,000 for winning. Add shoe sponsorship and she can get a million a race," he told the Herald Sun in Melbourne.

It is appropriate, perhaps, that Radcliffe visits Monte Carlo on Sunday to start the mega-rich principality's annual marathon.