GREAT Britain's leading Olympic hope Paula Radcliffe last night called for the region's athletics fans to keep her bid for a gold medal this summer on track.

Radcliffe will be the star attraction at the Norwich Union Grand Prix at Gateshead tomorrow when she should comfortably achieve the Games qualifying time of 31mins 45secs in the 10,000m.

It will be the first time the 30-year-old has competed in this country since becoming Commonwealth 5,000m champion two years ago and the only time she has ran the longer track event on home soil.

Tomorrow is another opportunity for Radcliffe to continue her recovery from surgery to repair a hernia problem at the start of this year.

And the Loughborough lady wants to excite the supporters that turn out at the International Stadium by displaying the sort of form that led to her running the third fastest 5,000m of all time in Poland last week - breaking the British and Commonwealth record.

"It is a chance to run in Britain which is something I have not done for a couple of years," said Radcliffe. "The crowd up here are always very welcoming and it is going to be a good meeting.

"It's an area where athletics is appreciated and it does help when you are running in front of knowledgeable crowd.

"Every time you compete on a track in Britain you get a lot more support and it does help. I've missed a few and it was not through choice.

"But I'm enjoying getting back to fitness now and what that might bring. I'd like to run a personal best but, with the weather in mind, I just want to run strongly."

The injury restricted Radcliffe in the early months of the year but the Great Britain women's team captain is now relishing the challenge of stepping up the pace ahead of the Athens games.

The Olympic gold is something she is yet to add to an impressive list of honours. Four years ago she had to settle for fourth in the 10,000m in Sydney.

Since then Radcliffe has gone on to become European champion as well as setting a new world women's marathon record in Chicago in 2002 and then beating that a year later in London in a time of 2: 17mins 18secs.

The field in Gateshead is not the strongest, yet Radcliffe will still have to overcome Japan's Kayoko Fukushi, who has recorded the second fastest time over the distance this year, and Portugal's Olympic champion Fernanda Ribeiro.

"It's not up to me to organise the races, it's just up to me to turn up and beat whatever is in front of me," said Radcliffe. "I want to just go out there and run my own race. I want the support behind me and it's an important meeting for me during the build up to the Olympics.

"It has been an important time for me because I have had to bounce back from injury but I should not have any further problems.

"Things are going according to plan and I'm pleased with how things are going. I'm confident that things will go well providing the training keeps going well."

Radcliffe - expected to run the marathon at the Olympics but could yet enter either the 5,000m or 10,000m - is likely to have just one more race before travelling with Team GB to Greece.

Following England's exit from Euro 2004, attentions are now firmly fixed on Tim Henman at Wimbledon and Radcliffe in Athens.

And she said: "I was watching the football. It was very disappointing and I feel for the lads out there. I know what it's like to do all the preparation, all the hard work and come up short. It destroys you.

"I know there is pressure on me to perform in Athens but there is also a lot of support. Pressure is talked about but I would say there's no more pressure on me than the pressure I put on myself."