Lel retains London Marathon crown

London Marathon: Kenyan Martin Lel retained his London Marathon title with a devastating finish on Sunday to triumph in two …

London Marathon:Kenyan Martin Lel retained his London Marathon title with a devastating finish on Sunday to triumph in two hours, five minutes, 15 seconds, while Irina Mikitenko won the women's race.

The race was run in mostly dry conditions but finished in a rainstorm and the leaders set a scorching sub-world record pace for the first 30 km but slowed slightly in the latter stages as rain and the early effort took their toll.

Lel, winner in 2005 and last year and second in 2006, looked comfortable throughout and piled on the pressure in the last 500 metres to pull clear of 21-year-old compatriot Sammy Wanjiru, who finished nine seconds adrift.

Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri, second last yar when he was outkicked by Lel, had to settle for Bronze on Sunday but still in a terrific time of 2:05.30 -- eight seconds inside the 2002 course record of Khalid Khannouchi.

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Irina Mikitenko won her first major marathon title on only her second outing over the distance  when she triumphed in the women's Marathon in a two hours 24 minutes 14 seconds.

The 35-year-old former Kazakhstan Olympic 5,000 track athlete made her marathon debut last year when she finished second to Gete Wami in Berlin but the Ethiopian race favourite could manage only third place on Sunday after losing ground when falling at a feed station at the 30 km mark.

Mikitenko looked strong throughout, covering every move, and made her key break over the last five km, surging clear to finish in a rainstorm after the race had been run in mostly bright, dry conditions.

Russian Svetlana Zakharova, runner-up in 2001 and 2002, completed a hat-trick of silvers when she finished 25 seconds adrift.