By Neil Bonnar BOLTON'S Carolyn Hunter-Rowe is the world's greatest woman runner by a distance - 62.1 miles to be exact.

That's how far the Horwich Harrier had to run to win gold in the World 100km Championships in Japan.

The 34-year-old overcame two years of injury problems to win back the world champion title she last held in 1993.

And she believes her rivals on the world stage have not seen the best of her.

"I'm still on the young side for ultra distance running," says Carolyn, who just missed out on a team medal when the five-strong Great Britain squad finished fourth.

"I finished tenth in 94, fifth in 95 before injury kept me out of the 96 and 97 World Championships.

"In fact the last 100km I ran was in 1996 when I won the European Championships. But I was always hopeful I would be able to achieve the sort of success I had five years ago once I got over my injuries."

Carolyn's move to hilly Horwich from York 16 months ago provided her with the perfect training conditions for her bid to recapture the world title.

"The Japanese course was very hilly and it was run in hot and humid conditions," added Carolyn as she continued her recovery from her stamina-sapping victory today.

"My time of eight hours 16 minutes and seven seconds was outside my personal best of seven hours 27 minutes and 19 seconds but it was a course record and a good time in the conditions.

"The hills around Horwich are ideal for training because you need a lot of strength to run for seven or eight hours and running off road prevents too much pounding on the body."

Her victory secures her Great Britain team selection for next year's World and European 100km Championships and that means no end to a punishing training schedule of 90 to 95 miles a week split into ten or 11 runs including one long one of between 22 and 28 miles.

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