Those front-running shoes take leaps and bounds towards Beijing

For more than 25 miles Paula Radcliffe stepped into her old front-running shoes as though her two-year hiatus from the marathon had never happened. Her plan for Sunday's New York Marathon was purely to run as she felt but invariably she feels most comfortable when dictating the pace. Gete Wami, who has studied the small of Paula's back since their junior days, was equally content to follow the script whose final scene had the Ethiopian sprinting to victory as the plucky Brit battles vainly on.

However, the theatres of Broadway just a few blocks from New York's Central Park would be hard pushed to deliver a performance charged with as much emotion and drama as Radcliffe's race to the tape ahead of her old rival.

It was at this point that the proceedings took an added significance in relation to Beijing next summer. Perceived wisdom has it that Radcliffe's chances at the Olympics are restricted by the very ability that is her major strength. In probable hot and humid conditions to lead all the way would seem a high-risk strategy. Even if such a tactic can be followed, the likelihood would be that at least one other would be sitting, waiting to deliver the inevitable.

This was Wami's role on Sunday. What followed in the last two minutes of the race has reinvigorated not only Radcliffe's own belief and confidence but that of all those watching and hoping. Wami found what she probably already knew.

Never doubt Radcliffe's ability to dig deeper than anyone else in similar situations. Those who called her a quitter after Athens were wrong. This was not the Olympic Games but it was a hugely important race and the manner of her victory will make all of Radcliffe's potential competitors in Beijing sleep a little less easily in the coming months.

There is much still to do to get her to the start line nine months from now in the physical and mental shape she would hope for but Sunday wiped away a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in one sustained burst over the last 400 metres. The first task is to recover quietly before setting any short-term targets. The priority then will be to get to Beijing without any serious mishaps between now and August. Which races will get her there are less important, although each will help her confidence and fitness. There may be another marathon, although that is now a luxury rather than a necessity. The world cross-country championships in Edinburgh at the end of March looks likely but beyond that there is little point in speculating and frankly it doesn't matter. Radcliffe has won seven of her eight marathons and it is only her results over this distance that should be judged. As she said of that last 800m on Sunday, "this is my territory".

She has claimed the high ground again but as good as the field was here, the threat from Japan and China next summer will be formidable. Thankfully so is Radcliffe. As she heads home with her husband Gary and daughter Isla it will be a happy family with much to look forward to. It will not be lost on them or the rest of the athletic fraternity that sadly for Ryan Shay's family Central Park will always be a poignant reminder of his lost potential.

As enthralling and exhausting as Radcliffe's victory was on Sunday it was juxtaposed against the tragic death of Shay, the former American champion, competing in the US Olympic trials for the marathon on Saturday. The 26.2 mile event asks more physically than any other and exposes most in terms of character. The sad death of the 28-year-old Shay served as a shocking reminder to all of those competing of the physiological frailties of even the most conditioned athletes. However, Radcliffe's victory provided some solace in illustrating how strength of character can propel an individual beyond the point where most are happy to succumb.

Sport often struggles to cope with tragedies such as that which befell Shay. Invariably, though, the best tribute, particularly to an elite athlete such as Shay, is to go out and produce a performance that he would have understood and admired.

The race between Radcliffe and Gete Wami certainly managed to achieve this and although both were quick to acknowledge the insignificance of their own exploits on such a sorrowful weekend the pulsating climax and ultimate result was impossible to play down.