WHEN Paula Radcliffe famously staggered to a halt on the road from Marathon to Athens in 2004, few understood her plight better than Ron Hill.

Like Radcliffe, Hill emerged as a genuinely world class British marathon runner in the 1960s and 1970s and topped the world rankings in 1970.

But, like Radcliffe, the Accrington-born runner never got the Olympic gold medal to go alongside his triumphs at the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Hill ran that historic Greek course, which gave birth to the term ‘marathon’ 2,000 years ago, at the European Championships in 1969.

Unlike Radcliffe, who went into the 2004 Olympics as the favourite for gold but ran out of energy with six kilometres to go, Hill won.

But, such was his appreciation of how tough the course was, the 70-year-old still regards it as one of the highlights of his career.

“The year I ran, it was so hot,” he said. “The tar stuck to my shoes. I can still remember the sound of my shoes leaving the wet tar.

“It is a hilly course. There is some flat but it is a climb right up to 32 kilometres and then it is downhill.

“My mother, family, wife and two kids were all there and the race finished in the ancient stadium.

“With six miles to go I couldn’t even see the leader. I thought, ‘I’ve got a silver medal, brilliant.’ “But I caught the guy with one kilometre to go and beat him easily in the end.

“I think they’ve levelled the hills out a bit since I ran and I don’t know the full story with Paula. I believe she was ill.

“I tried to make contact with her before that race but it didn’t happen.

“I ran only three minutes slower than my personal best there.

“I wanted to tell her that if she ran three minutes slower – she had a 2:15 best - no-one else had done a 2:18, only Paula. She would have walked it.

“But looking at it she stayed with the rest of the field and my thinking was the further it went, the more opposition were thinking, ‘What’s happening? She’s not going, we’ve got a chance’.

“The first one went, then another went, then another went. Once that bronze medal started to go away from her, she just mentally collapsed.

“When she ran 2:15 she was the fastest British marathon runner, including the men. You’ve got to respect that. An absolutely amazing talent.

“She’s come back since and won New York and London.

“I just wish I’d had her medical back-up, although I’m not so sure about the ice baths!”

Hill, who was forced to sell his successful Ronhill athletics clothing brand in 1991 because of the recession, currently runs the Hilly Clothing business that sells technical socks for runners.

He is still an avid follower of athletics and picks out the legendary Haile Gebreselassie, who broke the marathon world record again last month, and fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele as the two others he admires the most.

“You’ve got to admire the Ethopian runners,” said Hill, who achieved his success with little medical or financial backing.

“Gebreselassie has taken the world record down to 2:03:59, but they were born at altitude and live at altitude. That’s a major advantage.

“Obviously he’s a multi-millionaire and has got all the time to train and rest as much as he wants. I say good luck to him but I don’t hold myself inferior to him.

“This young Ethopian who has won the World Cross Country Championships about seven or eight times, he’s a phenomenal talent.

“But it shouldn’t put our runners off. Some say we’ll never do what the Kenyans and the Ethopians can do.

“This year a Kenyan won the Olympic marathon but at the last Olympics an Italian won it, so it can be done.”

Hill’s phenomenal mental strength - symbolised by his record of running on 16,000 consecutive days and completing races in 100 different countries - transformed him from an unremarkable junior into one of the best athletes in the world with a marathon personal best of 2:09.

But he is concerned that the current crop of British athletes do not crave success enough.

He said: “Where are our guys now? Our best guy is 2:13. What’s happening?

“I don’t think anyone has got the motivation to do it. Surely in the time since marathon running has gone on, we haven’t changed our physique or anything like that.

“It’s a mental thing and possibly a way of life thing.

“All we wanted to do in the 1960s and 1970s was get into a Commonwealth team, a European team and an Olympic team and, if possible, to win something at the Olympics. I don’t think people are bothered now.

“There must be that talent there. But it’s not coming out.”