Paula Radcliffe outlasted Gete Wami to win the New York City Marathon on Sunday, her first marathon in two years after giving birth in January.
Martin Lel of Kenya won the men’s title, making his kick in the final mile to edge Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 4 seconds in the first race without a pacesetter. Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa finished third in 2:11:25.
Radcliffe, the world-record holder, ran almost the entire race with Wami on her heels before pulling away over the last mile. She finished in 2:23:09 in cool, sunny conditions. It’s her second NYC Marathon title, having won in 2004 after a dropping out of the Athens Olympics marathon.
Wami, running her second marathon in only 35 days, finished in 2:23:32 and won the inaugural $500,000 World Marathons Majors title.
Two-time defending champion Jelena Prokopcuka was a distant third in 2:26:13, a day after elite runner Ryan Shay collapsed and died at the U.S. men’s marathon trails in Central Park. There was a moment of silence for Shay before the start of the men’s race.
The 33-year-old Radcliffe was greeted by her husband Gary Lough and daughter Isla at the finish line. She hadn’t run a marathon since the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, but ran during her pregnancy, including 12 days after she gave birth.
Radcliffe and Wami made it a two-woman race early. They extended their lead to 2 minutes at the 10-mile mark ahead of Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and Prokopcuka.
By the 20-mile mark, they extended the lead to 3:33. Radcliffe pulled away as she entered Central Park at mile 24, but Wami took a brief lead with about a mile to go. Radcliffe regained the lead in the final stretch.
Meanwhile, Hundreds of marathoners, including Tour de France great Lance Armstrong, wore black ribbons yesterday’s in memory of fellow runner, Olympic hopeful Ryan Shay, who suddenly dropped dead in a race the day before.
“That’s why I put this ribbon on. So if I forgot I could look down and see it,” said Armstrong said after crossing the finish line with an impressive time of 2:47.
“It’s one of those stories of a young guy at the top of his game. It was certainly unexpected. “But he’s a runner and if he’s going to go that’s the way to go,” Armstrong said.
Less than an hour after starting the Olympic trials in Rockefeller Center, the 28-year-old Shay collapsed and died only five and a half miles into the 26.2-mile course of the U.S. men’s marathon Olympic trials.
An autopsy by the medical examiner’s office was inconclusive. Shay’s father Joe said doctors had been concerned that his son’s heart was growing too large, nevertheless he got the go-ahead to compete.
With AP wires