Paula Radcliffe has formally received her OBE for services to sport, with the Prince of Wales presenting the honour at an investiture at Windsor Castle on Tuesday 10 November. The award was announced in the King's New Year Honours list, and Radcliffe, now 52, described it as an immense honour that she had not been expecting at this stage of her life. She recalled that her MBE had been presented by the late Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Radcliffe's place in British distance running needs little introduction. The Cheshire-born athlete won the London Marathon three times and set the women's world record of 2:15:25 on the London course in 2003, a mark that stood for 16 years until it was broken in 2019. She also won World, European and Commonwealth medals across the 5,000m, the 10,000m and cross country, and she remains widely regarded as Britain's greatest female marathon runner. She now works as a commentator, and is a familiar voice at the major marathons.
According to the Press Association, the Prince told Radcliffe he remembered watching her race while he was growing up, which she described as really very sweet. The two have worked together before, when Heads Together, the mental health campaign backed by the Prince, was the London Marathon's charity of the year. Their conversation at Windsor turned to the changing make-up of the sport, with Radcliffe pointing out that the 18 to 29 age group is now the fastest-growing in the London Marathon field.
She was candid about the barriers that still hold some women back. Cultural differences and a sense of guilt about leaving home to train continue to deter some women from running, she said, but that mindset is shifting, helped by better attention to safety, women-friendly races and the spread of training groups. She also praised the visibility of the Princess of Wales exercising with her children, and singled out Princess Charlotte, who plays netball, as a positive example for girls, adding that the UK does a very good job of providing pathways into sport through its teams, clubs and volunteers.
Her comments chime with what the sport has been seeing on the ground. Run clubs and parkruns have reported strong growth among younger adults, and the major marathons continue to record unprecedented demand for places. Radcliffe's own career was built on uncompromising front running, but her message at Windsor was about the opposite end of the field: making sure the women and girls who want to start running feel able to do so.