ALYSON DIXON has praised Paula Radcliffe’s role in ensuring she is in the best possible condition to secure an Olympic qualifying time when she competes in the Berlin Marathon this weekend.

Radcliffe has suffered a traumatic few weeks after Tory MP Jesse Norman, head of the culture, media and sport select committee, effectively implicated her in the ongoing Sunday Times investigation into alleged blood doping in athletics.

The former marathon World champion and World record holder strenuously denies any wrong-doing, and has been forced to conduct a series of interviews in an attempt to clear her name, but while she was mounting a vociferous media campaign, she still found time to continue her role as mentor to Wearsider Dixon, who is a member of Sunderland Strollers.

The pair have grown close over the last 12 months, with Radcliffe travelling to Kenya and France to assist with Dixon’s training schedule as she attempts to secure a place in next year’s Olympic marathon in Rio.

Dixon proved her wellbeing with an impressive fourth-place finish in this month’s Great North Run, and as she prepares to head to Berlin for Sunday’s attempt to go under the Rio qualification mark, the 36-year-old has nothing but praise for an athlete who remains one of Britain’s greatest-ever competitors.

“Paula’s been absolutely amazing with me,” said Dixon. “She’s had a really tough couple of weeks, but even when everything was going on, she was still there for me, sending me texts and telling me I was in great shape to do well at the Great North Run.

“That says everything about her. It’s absolutely heart-breaking to see what she’s gone through, but she’s been amazing and I’m just eternally grateful and proud to have her by my side.

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“She was in Kenya with me back in February, and then she came over to France with us towards the end of the summer. She was doing crazy things liking jumping on a bike and doing my long runs with me.

“She was doing track reps to push me along, and you just don’t expect that from someone who’s achieved so much in the sport. It just shows the amazing person she is, and it’s a pity she’s had to go through what she has.”

Dixon has experienced her own fair share of setbacks during a career that seen her progress from being one of the North-East’s best club runners to grace the international stage.

Last summer’s Commonwealth Games marathon was supposed to be one of the highlights of her career, but having briefly led in the early stages of the race, she was forced to retire in tears at the halfway stage after her Achilles gave way.

She eventually left the course in a wheelchair, but while she admits there was a brief period where she questioned whether to continue with her running, it did not take her long to regain her focus and turn her attention towards Rio.

“Glasgow was devastating, but there was nothing I could have done to prevent it,” she said. “I didn’t have any injuries going into it, there were no niggles or anything like that – the Achilles just went on the day.

“I came back and ran the Great North Run with the lasses, and totally fell in love with running again. I had a bad start to this year. I ran in a cross-country race in Edinburgh, and it was a race I should never really have run in.

“It’s hard to turn down the offer of a GB vest on the country, but I finished last and was really disappointed and embarrassed. Then I went out to Kenya, and I had Paula by my side and I think she’s made the difference.”

That difference will hopefully be apparent this weekend, as Dixon targets the qualifying time of two hours and 31 minutes that would put her at the head of the queue for a place at Rio.

Having recently set a new personal best over ten kilometres, she is in perfect shape as she heads to Germany, with this month’s performance in the Great North Run having provided a further confidence boost as she claimed her best-ever finish in fourth position.

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“The qualification time is 2:31, and I think I’m in the right shape to go sub 2:30,” she said. “Ideally, I’d love to get somewhere close to 2:28, but we’ll see what happens on the day, and the most important thing will be to get under that time for Rio.

“There’s a handful of girls out there who are easily capable of the 2:31, plus you’re bound to get somebody who comes out of the woodwork and runs an exceptional debut. Quite often, that happens.

“At the minute, we’re probably looking at about four or five girls really aiming for it. There’s a couple doing autumn marathons, and another couple leaving it until London. Ideally, I don’t want to be doing that because it’s a bit too close to Rio. If I can nail it in Berlin, that should put me right up there with a good chance of getting a place.”