# 1985 IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships

The 1985 IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships was the third edition of the annual international road running competition organised by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). The competition was hosted by the United Kingdom on 3 November 1985 in Gateshead and featured one race only: a 15K run for women. This was the first time that the distance was contested at the championships, having previously been a 10K run, and this was a permanent change. There were individual and team awards available, with the national team rankings being decided by the combined finishing positions of a team's top three runners. Countries with fewer than three finishers were not ranked.
The race was won by Portugal's Aurora Cunha in a time of 49:17 minutes, completing a successful defence of her title from 1984. Judi St. Hilaire of the United States finished eight seconds later in second place, while Great Britain's Carole Bradford came third for a second year running. As she had the year before, Bradford led the British women to the team title (alongside fifth place Paula Fudge and Wendy Sly in eleventh). The Soviet Union's team, featuring Lyudmila Matveyeva in fourth and two other top ten finishers in Mariya Vasilyuk and Yelena Sipatova, was just one point behind in the team race. St Hilaire helped the American women to the bronze medal team position (backed up by Nancy Ditz and Carol McLatchie).

## Results
### Individual

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time (m:s) |
| | Aurora Cunha | Portugal (POR) | 49:17 |
| | Judi St. Hilaire | United States (USA) | 49:25 |
| | Carole Bradford | Great Britain (GBR) | 49:59 |
| 4 | Lyudmila Matveyeva | Soviet Union (URS) | 50:28 |
| 5 | Paula Fudge | Great Britain (GBR) | 50:36 |
| 6 | Donna Gould | Australia (AUS) | 50:42 |
| 7 | Mariya Vasilyuk | Soviet Union (URS) | 50:56 |
| 8 | Anna Villani | Italy (ITA) | 51:00 |
| 9 | Yelena Sipatova | Soviet Union (URS) | 51:08 |
| 10 | Ellen Wessinghage | West Germany (FRG) | 51:29 |
| 11 | Wendy Sly | Great Britain (GBR) | 51:40 |
| 12 | Dorthe Rasmussen | Denmark (DEN) | 51:48 |
| 13 | Tatyana Bultot | Soviet Union (URS) | 51:51 |
| 14 | Jill Rothwell | Great Britain (GBR) | 51:53 |
| 15 | Christina Mai | West Germany (FRG) | 51:54 |
| 16 | Nancy Ditz | United States (USA) | 51:57 |
| 17 | Ann Ford | Great Britain (GBR) | 52:01 |
| 18 | Elizabeth Franzis | West Germany (FRG) | 52:06 |
| 19 | Carol McLatchie | United States (USA) | 52:13 |
| 20 | Mami Fukao | Japan (JPN) | 52:18 |
| 21 | Conceição Ferreira | Portugal (POR) | 52:20 |
| 22 | Danièle Kaber | Luxembourg (LUX) | 52:23 |
| 23 | Rosanna Munerotto | Italy (ITA) | 52:30 |
| 24 | Elly van Hulst | Netherlands (NED) | 52:32 |
| 25 | Antonella Bizioli | Italy (ITA) | 52:35 |
| 26 | Yvonne Murray | Great Britain (GBR) | 52:38 |
| 27 | Lucilia Soares | Portugal (POR) | 52:40 |
| 28 | Sinikka Keskitalo | Finland (FIN) | 52:43 |
| 29 | Jiang Zhourong | China (CHN) | 52:45 |
| 30 | Susan Schneider | United States (USA) | 52:51 |
| 31 | Jocelyne Villeton | France (FRA) | 52:52 |
| 32 | Sheila Purves | Hong Kong (HKG) | 53:05 |
| 33 | Xiao Hongyan | China (CHN) | 53:08 |
| 34 | Maria Rebelo | France (FRA) | 53:09 |
| 35 | Gabriela Górzyńska | Poland (POL) | 53:11 |
| 36 | Ailish Smyth | Ireland (IRL) | 53:15 |
| 37 | Sirkku Kumpulainen | Finland (FIN) | 53:17 |
| 38 | Megan-Louise Sloane | Australia (AUS) | 53:18 |
| 39 | Françoise Bonnet | France (FRA) | 53:35 |
| 40 | Kristiina Iisakkila | Finland (FIN) | 53:37 |
| 41 | Ľudmila Melicherová | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 53:40 |
| 42 | Sylviane Levesque | France (FRA) | 53:42 |
| 43 | Christine Kennedy | Ireland (IRL) | 53:45 |
| 44 | Maria-Luisa Irizar | Spain (ESP) | 53:52 |
| 45 | Kerstin Pressler | West Germany (FRG) | 54:01 |
| 46 | Mette Holm | Denmark (DEN) | 54:04 |
| 47 | Nikolina Shtereva | Bulgaria (BUL) | 54:08 |
| 48 | Aino-Maria Slej | Denmark (DEN) | 54:11 |
| 49 | Carolien Lucas | Netherlands (NED) | 54:13 |
| 50 | Malgorzata Szuminska | Poland (POL) | 54:15 |
| 51 | Jenny Lund | Australia (AUS) | 54:20 |
| 52 | Deirdre Nagle | Ireland (IRL) | 54:21 |
| 53 | Albertina Dias | Portugal (POR) | 54:31 |
| 54 | Henrietta Fina | Austria (AUT) | 54:32 |
| 55 | Maria-Esther Pedrosa | Spain (ESP) | 54:36 |
| 56 | ? | | |
| 57 | Tuija Toivonen | Finland (FIN) | 55:02 |
| 58 | Odette Lapierre | Canada (CAN) | 55:11 |
| 59 | Ewa Wrzosek | Poland (POL) | 55:13 |
| 61 | Anna Iskra | Poland (POL) | 55:53 |
| 62 | ? | | |
| 63 | Gitte Karlshøj | Denmark (DEN) | 56:00 |
| 65 | Maryse Justin | Mauritius (MRI) | 57:01 |
| 66 | ? | | |
| 67 | Consuelo Alonso | Spain (ESP) | 57:11 |

### Team

| Team | Points |
| Great Britain (GBR) Carole Bradford Paula Fudge Wendy Sly | 19 pts |
| Soviet Union (URS) Lyudmila Matveyeva Mariya Vasilyuk Yelena Sipatova | 20 pts |
| United States (USA) Judi St Hilaire Nancy Ditz Carol McLatchie | 36 pts |