Lel leaves politcial strife behind to retain title

ATHLETICS - LONDON MARATHON:MARTIN LEL had no problems defending his London Marathon title yesterday despite having his preparations interrupted by the recent political unrest in Kenya.

In a race run at world-record pace until the last six miles, Lel claimed a third London title in four years by smashing Khalid Khannouchi's course record.

Fellow Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru was second and last year's runner-up Abderrahim Goumri third as the first three home all broke the course record.

Lel, who had to switch his training base to Namibia at the beginning of the year when fighting erupted in his homeland, stormed to victory in two hours five minutes and 15 seconds.

"I knew I had to use my experience today and if I made a mistake I would lose," said the 29-year-old, who sprinted clear in the last 400 metres to win by nine seconds with Goumri third, a further six seconds back.

It was the first time three athletes had gone under two hours six minutes in the same race, and the next three, Emmanuel Mutai, Ryan Hall and Deriba Merga, all went under 2:07 with lifetime bests.

The women's race saw a shock result when Germany's Irina Mikitenko ran away from her much more fancied rivals over the last two miles to win in a personal best of 2:24.14.

"I knew from 30 kilometres I could win and whatever happened I could deal with it," said Mikitenko after only her second marathon.

The 35-year-old Kazakhstan-born athlete fully deserved her victory after leading for well over half the race, although it might have been different if Gete Wami had not fallen just before 18 miles.

The Ethiopian pre-race favourite collided with Algeria's Souad Ait Salem at a water station, but recovered to finish third behind Mikitenko and Svetlana Zakharova.

Liz Yelling won her British domestic duel with Hayley Haining to almost certainly assure her of a second British Olympic vest in Beijing this summer.

With top British runners Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi assured of their places, the race was an eagerly-awaited contest between the English and Scottish runners for the third spot in the team.

Yelling won the battle as both of them bettered 2:30 for the first time in 2:28.33 and 2:29.18 in ninth and 12th positions.

Yelling risked going with the international pack while Haining took a more cautious approach.

"It really was hard work between 13 and 18 miles," said Yelling, "and looking back I could see Hayley in the distance, which gave me a big kick up the bottom.

"I felt under pressure as I could see that she was speeding up. I told myself if Hayley is going to get this, I'm going to make her work for it and if she does she will deserve it. It made me pick up and run faster, but the last six miles were really hard."