Paula Radcliffe won the San Silvestre Vallecana road race in Madrid despite a mid-race scare when a spectator accidentally sprayed a streamer into her mouth.
Despite the incident, Radcliffe relished the lively atmosphere of the 10-kilometres competition in the Spanish capital where she was an easy winner ahead of Jelena Prokopcuka.
Radcliffe easily asserted herself over the Latvian, who at the beginning of November succeeded her as New York City Marathon champion and is also a polished 10,000metres runner.
But the Briton's determination - despite the frenzied party atmosphere of the annual event with 10,000 contestants - saw her claim victory around the tight course in an unofficial time of 31 minutes 16 seconds.
"A spectator stepped in front of me and sprayed something accidentally into my mouth," said Radcliffe, who played down the incident and recovered almost immediately.
"I'm okay and it is a great way to end 2005," added Radcliffe.
Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge took the men's race in an unofficial time of 27:51.
