(CNN) Women's world record holder Paula Radcliffe bade an emotional farewell to the London Marathon Sunday -- the event where she set her phenomenal best time back in 2003.

The 41-year-old Radcliffe, plagued by injuries in recent years, had vowed to pound the 42km course around Britain's capital city just one more time and was good to her word.

Those 12 years ago, Radciffe stunned the world of athletics with a time of two hours 15 minutes 25 seconds and also produced two other sub two-hour 18 minutes performances for the marathon distance at the peak of her career.

To put it into context, the winning time of the 2015 London women's winner, Ethiopia's Tigist Tufa, was just under eight minutes slower than Radcliffe's of 2003.

In cold and windy conditions, it was nevertheless a fine performance from Tufa, who relegated two-time former winner Mary Keitany of Kenya to second place.

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