Ramaala triumphs in tight finish

Three seconds separated the top four finishers at yesterday's 10-mile Cross Border Challenge race between Carlingford and Newry. South African half-marathon champion Henrik Ramaala edged out Wilson Omwoyo and William Musyoki, both of Kenya, with European cross-country champion Carstan Jorgensen taking fourth. Ramaala's time of 46 minutes 11 seconds was one of the fastest ever run on Irish roads.

Seamas Power of Limerick was, like last year, the best of Irish in seventh, running exactly one minute faster than last year to finish in a highly respectable 47 minutes. Cormac Finnerty of Mullingar also claimed a top-ten finish, eight seconds behind Power, with Killian Lonergan of Clonliffe taking 13th spot in 48.12.

Despite the excellent conditions, the Irish women didn't have a great day, with Helena Crossan of Finn Valley the best in 16th position, nearly six and a half minutes behind the winner, Berhane Dagne of Ethiopia.

Meanwhile, Brazilian Ronaldo da Costa ran the fastest marathon in history yesterday, breaking the 10-year-old mark by 45 seconds in Berlin with a time of two hours six minutes and five seconds. Running in only his second marathon, da Costa broke free from the pack at the midway mark and ran alone under bright sunny skies to finish more than a minute ahead of Kenyan Josephat Kiprono, who clocked 2:07.26.

Da Costa, who finished fifth in Berlin last year in 2:09.07, turned a cartwheel at the finish line in celebration. "I came simply to run under 2:08 but the conditions were so good I just decided to go for it," said the 28-year-old. His time bettered the mark of 2:06.50 set by Ethiopian Belayneh Dinsamo in Rotterdam on April 17, 1988 and earned him more almost £100,000 between prize money and the record bonus.