The City of Manchester Stadium - only 25 miles from Davenham, Radcliffe's birthplace - was full to its 38,000 capacity for the 5,000 metres.

It turned out to be not so much a race as a procession, as Radcliffe breezed into the lead and stayed there.

Since the 1996 Olympic Games, Radcliffe had run from the front many times before on the track, only to be overtaken near the line - usually by an African rival.

She had suffered heartbreak at the Sydney 2000 Olympics when she led for 24 laps in the 10,000m but finished out of the medals when she was passed by three Ethiopians on the final lap.

It was as if the crowd could feel her hurt as they roared her on in Manchester. Radcliffe took the lead on the first lap and kept upping the pace until the last of her challengers, the Kenyan Edith Masai, was broken and fell away.

Radcliffe rounded the final turn on the 12th and last lap 120m clear of her nearest rival, and the crowd cheered her home in a Games record time of 14min 31.42sec.

There were echoes of Edinburgh 1986 and Liz McColgan, another great British distance runner who won gold in her "home" Games, when Radcliffe said: "That was really tough out there but the crowd kept me going and I have to thank them. I have never experienced anything like that."

It was one of many highlights in a golden year for Radcliffe, and it was the only appearance she ever made in the Commonwealth Games.

She claimed the cross-country world title, the London Marathon, set a world record in winning the Chicago Marathon, and won that first track gold in Manchester plus another, the European 10,000m, later in the year. She was also made an MBE.

It all added up to a landslide victory in voting for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and helped to make Radcliffe one of Britain's most popular athletes of all time.

When asked about that evening in Manchester 12 years later, when she was commentating at the Glasgow 2014 Games, Radcliffe said: "It was undoubtedly one of the absolute best moments in my career - and it was so much more enjoyable because it was in front of my home fans.

"These major competitions at home come along rarely and if any of the athletes ask me for my thoughts I would just tell them to love every minute of it because it is so unusual.

"The Commonwealth Games was a very momentous occasion. It was a remarkable Games and made all the more memorable because of the enthusiasm of the crowd."