Martin Lel wins London Marathon for the third time, beating the course
record while Germany's Mikitenko wins her first major title in only her second
attempt at the distance.

 LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (APRIL 13 2008) BBC -

 Kenyan Martin Lel retained his London Marathon title with a
devastating finish on Sunday (April 13) to triumph in two hours, five minutes,
15 seconds in a race where the first three finishers broke the course record.

    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.

   German Irina Mikitenko won her first major marathon title on only her
second outing over the distance on Sunday (April 13) when she triumphed in the
women's London 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.
   This year the London marathon has extra significance as the performance
of many athletes will count towards their selection for national squads for
the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
   As is traditional in the London marathon there were tens of thousands of
amateur athletes competing in the general classification, either to beat their
previous time or to earn a medal for completing the distance.

Leading results from the men's London marathon
1.  Martin Lel (Kenya)          2 hrs 05 mins 15 secs  
2.  Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya)          2:05:24  
3.  Abderrahim Goumri (Morocco)     2:05:30  
4.  Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya)          2:06:15  
5.  Ryan Hall (U.S.)                2:06:17  
6.  Deriba Mergia (Ethiopia)        2:06:38  
7.  Yonas Kifle (Eritrea)           2:08:51  
8.  Felix Limo (Kenya)              2:10:34  
9.  Aleksey Sokolov (Russia)        2:11:41 
10.  Hendrick Ramaala (South Africa) 2:11:44  

Leading results from the women's London marathon
1.  Irina Mikitenko (Germany)     2 hrs 24 mins 14 secs  
2.  Svetlana Zakharova (Russia)       2:24:39  
3.  Gete Wami (Ethiopia)              2:25:37  
4.  Salina Kosgei (Kenya)             2:26:30  
5.  Ludmila Petrova (Russia)          2:26:45  
6.  Souad Ait Salem (Algeria)         2:27:41  
7.  Berhane Adere (Ethiopia)          2:27:42  
8.  Constantina Dita (Romania)        2:27:45  
9.  Liz Yelling (Britain)             2:28:33 
10.  Adriana Pirtea (Romania)          2:28:52