If Paula Radcliffe was having second thoughts about her comeback race, she might have been excused for diving back under the bed covers when she opened the curtains of her hotel room to see heavy rain and strong winds. But Radcliffe is neither the type to hide away nor to let down her supporters. Ten weeks after Olympic disappointment in Beijing, she was on the soggy streets of Portsmouth yesterday, setting a British record.

The ten-mile BUPA Great South Run was just a warm-up for Radcliffe before the more important business of attempting to retain her New York Marathon title on Sunday. But in a year dominated by injuries and disappointment, this low-key event probably served as her highlight of 2008 so far.

Certainly Beijing, where she trailed in 23rd, is unlikely to remembered with too much fondness, although her participation alone was remarkable enough after her preparation was hampered by a broken leg. After that, most expected her to write off the rest of the year. Not Radcliffe, though, who had returned to training almost immediately.

“The only thing to recover from in Beijing was that I wasn’t in shape, I hadn’t done enough running,” she said. “I’ve done a bit more now and feel more confident. You feel a lot different on the start line because you stand there knowing that you have done the preparation.

“It was different for Beijing, but generally, I wouldn’t put myself on the line unless I felt that I was OK. There are always, in any marathon build-up, little niggles, any marathon runner will tell you that. But when you haven’t done the preparation, that’s when it’s really hard.

“I don’t regret going to Beijing. It was a million times better than watching it on TV.

“I have never had a problem with getting psyched up for a race. Some people need a couple of races to get up for it, but I have never been like that. Because of the problems I have faced, it has been stop-start, stop-start and I haven’t raced nearly as much as I would want to.”

Splashing through the puddles of Portsmouth, in front of thousands of cheering fans, Radcliffe was expected to be given a test by Magdelane Mukunzi, the Kenyan, who finished second in last month’s Great North Run. But Mukunzi could not live with Radcliffe’s pace even for the first two miles of the race.

For six miles, Radcliffe remained on pace to beat Lornah Kiplagat’s world-record time of 50min 49.6sec. But the conditions took their toll in the closing stages and she finished in 51:11, the fifth-fastest of all time and 30sec better than the British record of Jill Boltz that stood for 17 years.

Jessica Augusto, of Portugal, finished second in 53:15, three seconds ahead of Mukunzi. Bernard Kipyego, of Kenya, won the men’s race in 46:42.

“It was windy early on and in the last two miles, where I think I must have lost 15 seconds a mile,” Radcliffe said. “I felt good running, it didn’t feel as though I had left everything out there, my legs feel OK. Maybe I could have given a bit more, but I didn’t want to give everything today.

“I didn’t know what the world record is. I just wanted to have a good blowout because I have a more important race next week. But I’d like to come back here, it’s a good course and really good support — maybe without the wind next time.”

More importantly, it proved to her that things were on track for New York, where she will attempt to win the title for the third time in her career. “Sometimes, at the end of a race, you feel really sick when you are warming down,” she said. “I don’t feel like that today, I can run a decent time and still come away feeling that there is more in the tank. I eased down for this race and I’ll ease down more for New York, so, hopefully, I’ll be even fresher then.

“When you know you have the weeks of training behind you, and you’ve done the best that you can to get yourself there, the fun bit is going out and racing. So you can just enjoy putting it all on the line.”

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