Martin Lel of Kenya has won the men's title at the New York City Marathon, while England's Paula Radcliffe captured the women's race as she competed in her first marathon in two years.
Lel went into his final kick about 1.5 kilometers from the finish line to edge past Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri in a time of 2:09:04. Goumri took second place, 12 seconds back, while Hendrick Ramala of South Africa was third (2:11:25).
In the women's race, Radcliffe led from the start with Gete Wami of Ethiopia close behind. But the world record-holding Radcliffe pulled away with less than two kilometers left to finish in 2:23:09. Wami finished second, 23 seconds back, while two-time defending champion Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia was a distant third (2:26:13).
It was Radcliffe's second New York City Marathon title, after winning in 2004. She has won all seven marathons she has completed, the only exception being the 2004 Olympic marathon she dropped out of.
There was a moment of silence before the men's marathon started for elite American runner Ryan Shay. He collapsed and died Saturday about nine kilometers into the U.S. men's marathon trials in Central Park. Autopsy results released Sunday were inconclusive.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
