She’s one of Britain’s greatest ever athletes whose sensational run in the 2003 London Marathon set a world record that would stand for 16 years.
This year Paula Radcliffe will be watching the event from the sidelines and despite all the medals and accolades she has won during her glittering career it is set to be the most emotional of her life.
For Paula, 51, will be cheering on teenage daughter Isla who is running her first ever marathon after overcoming a battle with a rare form of cancer.
Isla, 18, is taking part in the 26.2-mile race on Sunday to raise money to help families going through the heartache and trauma they experienced.
Describing her emotions this week Paula, who will be commentating for the BBC, said: ‘It’s an extremely emotional place to be anyway, when you see people turn that corner on the Mall and they realise they’ve done it – but when it’s your little girl doing it…’
Isla was diagnosed with germ cell ovarian cancer at the age of 13 in August 2000.
She underwent weeks of gruelling chemotherapy at the worst possible time during the Covid pandemic – meaning that Paula was the only member of her family who was allowed to be at her side as she fought the disease.
Paula’s father Peter, who had helped launch her on the road to success, died just weeks earlier aged 73 after falling sick while restrictions were in place.
Paula Radcliffe will be cheering on her 18-year-old daughter Isla from the sidelines as she takes on her first marathon. Paula is pictured holding Isla after winning the New York Marathon in 2008
Isla was diagnosed with cancer when she was just 13 years old. She is pictured right with Paula in 2023
Paula is pictured with her husband, Gary Lough, son Raphael (right) and daughter Isla (centre)
Paula – who competed in four Olympic Games and won gold in the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 – told how her most gruelling marathon was dealing with Isla’s diagnosis and its aftermath over a tormenting two-year period.
She said: ‘I’ll never forget the fear when someone tells you something is wrong with your baby. It is the scariest thing in the world.’
Paula told how she took Isla to the paediatrician after she experienced a number of symptoms including chronic stomach pain, loss of breath and bleeding.
She said this week: ‘It then moved very quickly. On the Tuesday she visited the doctor, we had a scan on the Wednesday and one week later we were already in the hospital starting the first round of chemo.’
Describing how the experience was far more challenging than any Olympic competition, Paula has spoken of her feelings of ‘panic and helplessness’.
She said: ‘It’s the hardest thing a parent can go through.
‘You can support them and be with them the whole way through, but you can’t do that chemo for them.
‘It’s horrible to watch your child suffering through that, but at the same time we believed that if it felt bad, it was killing the cancer.’
Proud mother Paula is pictured at the Boston Marathon with children Isla and Raphael this year. She confirmed this was the last time she would run the distance
Paula described her anguish after the news was broken her daughter had cancer, aged just 13
She added: ‘There are things you’re not ready for – either going through it or as a parent.’
Isla’s cancer is said to affect just one in 200,000 women.
Paula said: ‘You have it from birth and then when you hit puberty it starts to reproduce.’
Isla discussed her cancer diagnosis in an interview with The Times four years ago.
She told how she was initially relieved to identify what was wrong with her: I thought if we can solve this then I won’t have those problems – having mood swings and being tired all the time were not normal but it meant I could make sense of them.
‘I didn’t want to be told they didn’t know what it was or that it was normal because I didn’t want to carry on with the same pain and tiredness.’
Describing her treatment, Isla went on: ‘I cried the most when I lost my hair
‘The chemo does not affect you much on the outside but losing my hair was a big thing.’
To help her cope, her brother Raphael would allow his sister to blow-dry his hair to compensate for not being able to style her own.
Isla (pictured) said she cried when she lost her hair through chemotherapy. To help her cope, her younger brother would let her blow-dry his hair
Isla is pictured as a youngster before her cancer diagnosis as she rides a scooter
Isla said she was grateful for the attention her mother gave her: ‘Just dealing with me, just taking time and making me the priority…And my brother didn’t get as much time as he normally does or my grandma.
‘She was always there for me even if I snapped at her, she would not leave.’
Paula and husband Gary Lough, a former middle distance runner and athletics coach, moved to the south of France in 2005 and live in a village just outside Monte Carlo with Isla and son Raphael, 14.
The couple met at Loughborough University and Gary helped coach Paula on the road to glory winning a series of major titles and marathons before retiring 10 years ago.
Gary went on to work with Olympic legend Sir Mo Farah while Paula’s most memorable victory in London saw her set a world record time of two hours, 15 minutes and 25 seconds.
No woman ran faster until Brigid Kosgei of Kenya finally broke the record in 2019.
Just a year later, Isla received her devastating diagnosis.
Due to Covid restrictions it was decided Paula would be with Isla in the hospital, while Gary was taking care of their son Raphael.
Due to Covid restrictions at the time of Isla’s diagnosis, it was decided Paula would be with her daughter in the hospital, while Gary was taking care of their son Raphael
Paula said: ‘We had to pick one parent to go and we had to stick with the same parent all the way through
‘There was a huge amount of mother’s guilt for the fact that you have to focus more on one child for that period of time.’
Isla was given the all clear but has had to have regular check-ups and underwent a scare in 2023.
Paula said of concerned medics: ‘They saw something on the MRIs. So they called us in and said, ‘We’re really sorry, we’re going to have to go in and look at it because she only has one fallopian tube left and we’re pretty sure it’s on there’.’
Isla underwent three-hour surgery before doctors revealed their concerns were unfounded.
Paula said: ‘That was really hard and I think, emotions-wise, that being thrown back into it was something that I struggled with because I think that was at a time where… I guess it’s the emotions, isn’t it? When you just feel like everything’s just getting on top of you.’
Isla has also spoken of the ordeal saying: ‘Now I’m doing completely fine. It’s just the years afterwards where you still do feel the effects.’
She told how one of the hardest things was losing her hair and how she wished she hadn’t spent time in hospital monitoring social media.
Isla said: ‘When you are online and you are scrolling or you’re looking and you see all your friends are doing this – and they’re going out and they’re all together.
‘It made me feel left out and it’s nothing I could have controlled. I think if I hadn’t been on social media it would have made me feel a lot better about myself.’
Isla told how her treatment had led to her suffering ‘heat flushes’ and had affected her memory.
Isla (pictured as a child) was given the all clear from her cancer but has had to have regular check-ups and underwent a scare in 2023
Isla is seen playing with her younger brother during a family trip to the beach
But she said she believed some good had come out of the experience saying: ‘I’ve built up my memory. I trained it, trained it, trained it. Now it’s stronger.
‘I wouldn’t say I’m happy to have had it. I really had to work at that but I think now it’s helped me in the long run.’
Paula – who in 2002 was made an MBE and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year title – has frequently used social media to speak of her pride in her children and has described Isla as ‘a beautiful, strong young woman’.
And on Isla’s 15th birthday she wrote on Instagram: ‘So proud of this firecracker whose determination, intuition and general stubbornness and willingness to stand up for what’s right are seeing her grow into an amazing young lady.’
The family were together at the weekend when Paula, who retired in 2015, made a comeback to take part in the Boston Marathon.
Having run in Tokyo weeks earlier she joined an exclusive club of runners who had completed all six major marathons.
There were emotional scenes as was greeted with hugs at the finish line by Isla and Raphael who had competed in a 5,000 metre event in the city the previous day with Isla finishing in 10th place in her age category and Raphael finishing second.
Afterwards Paula, who had battled through a long-standing foot injury which had dogged her career, confirmed it was her final ever road race.
She wrote on Instagram: ‘Wow, thank you Boston.
‘My calf went at nine miles and I couldn’t go full out from then on, but on the plus side the foot is great and I got to savour and enjoy those Boston Marathon crowds.’
Paula added ‘That’s me signing out on the roads now! Lesson learned that my body is done with that.’
Now she’s turning her attention to Isla’s race on Sunday when she will be running to raise funds and awareness for Children with Cancer UK – a charity Paula has championed since her family went through their ordeal.
But Paula told how she had to rein her daughter in when it came to preparing for the race – so she could concentrate on winning a place at university.
She told Isla she wanted her to ‘concentrate on her exams’ and added: ‘She’s doing her final year of school ready for uni so she’s under a whole lot of pressure.
‘I’m OK with her just doing it to finish it and not really pushing hard.’
