Kenyan Mary Keitany wins the London Marathon in record time.
ADVERTISEMENTKenyan Mary Keitany wins the London Marathon in record time.
The 35-year-old beats Paula Radcliffe’s 12-year-old women’s-only record by 41 seconds over the 42.1 kilometre race.
Keitany crossed the iconic finish line, within sight of Buckingham Palace, in two hours, 17 minutes and one second.
She said: “The weather was good at the beginning, it was nice for me and my pace. I’ve run my best”.
But last year’s winner, Jemima Sumgong was absent.She failed an out-of-competition doping test in February, testing positive for EPO.
Another Kenyan, Daniel Wanjiru won the Men’s race with Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele coming in second.
Bekele holds the world records for the 5,000m and 10,000m and looked like mounting a comeback towards the end of the race.
But he was no match for Wanjiru, who finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 56 seconds – nine seconds ahead of the Ethiopian veteran.
But the surprise of the day was British club runner Josh Griffiths, from south Wales. Despite not racing with the elite runners, he upstaged the other British men with a time of two hours, fourteen minutes and forty-nine seconds. By beating the others, Griffiths has booked himself a place at the World Championships in August.