The1985IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships was the third edition of the annual internationalroad running competition organised by theInternational Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). The competition was hosted by the United Kingdom on 3 November 1985, inGateshead and featured one race only: a15K run for women. This was the first time that the distance was contested at the championships, having previously been a10K 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.[1]
The race was won by Portugal'sAurora Cunha in a time of 49:17 minutes, completing a successful defence of her title from1984.Judi St. Hilaire of the United States finished eight seconds later in second place, while Great Britain'sCarole 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 placePaula Fudge andWendy Sly in eleventh). The Soviet Union's team, featuringLyudmila Matveyeva in fourth and two other top ten finishers inMariya Vasilyuk andYelena Sipatova, was just one point behind in the team race. St Hilaire helped the American women to the bronze medal team position (backed up byNancy Ditz andCarol McLatchie).
| Rank | 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 |
World Championships organised byWorld Athletics | |
|---|---|
| Outdoor | |
| Indoor | |
| Continental Cup* | |
| U20 | |
| U18 | |
| Cross Country | |
| Race Walking | |
| Women's Road Race | |
| Marathon | |
| Half Marathon | |
| Road Relay | |
| Relays | |
| Ultimate | |
| Road Running | |
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