April 14, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1429

LONDON, April 13: Martin Lel’s dynamic sprint finish saw the Kenyan win his third London Marathon title in four years here Sunday in a new course record time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 15 seconds.

Lel, who at 20 miles was threatening Haile Gebrselassie’s world record before slowing as rain lashed the course, found a fresh burst of speed in the final 400 metres as he broke away from 21-year-old compatriot Sammy Wanjiru, who came home in a time of 2:05:24.

Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri, last year’s runner-up, was third in 2:05:30.

All three men broke Khalid Khannouchi’s previous London course record of 2:05:38, which was also a world record when the American won in 2002.

Ethiopia distance great Gebrselassie set his world record time of 2:04:26 in Berlin in September.

In the city where the marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was established at the 1908 Olympics, Lel, last year’s winner, joined Mexico’s Dionicio Ceron and Antonio Pinto of Portugal as a triple London champion.

“To win this race you have to work extra hard,” said Lel, who won his first London Marathon in 2005 and was the runner-up a year later.

“There were lots of runners in the field who could come first. So the chance of winning two in a row is very long. “This is one of the best races I have done. Now I want to come back next year and make it three in a row.”

Meanwhile Wanjiru, who in only his second full marathon, shaved 75 seconds off his best, made it clear that any disappointment he may have felt in finishing second was offset by posting a time which qualified him for this August’s Olympic Games in Beijing.—AFP