KEY POINTS:
Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia won the New York City Marathon in commanding fashion today, becoming the first woman to repeat as champion in 11 years.
Prokopcuka, blowing kisses and waving to the Central Park crowd at the finish, ran an unofficial time of two hours 25 minutes five seconds to win by one minute over Tatiana Hladyr of Ukraine, winner of this year's Rome Marathon.
Catherine Ndereba of Kenya was third, snapping her streak of finishing first or second in her last 15 marathons.
Prokopcuka became the first woman to repeat as New York champion since Tegla Loroupe of Kenya in 1995.
The 30-year-old Latvian led from the beginning, staying up with the pacemaker while the rest of the pack ran a more deliberate pace.
Hladyr joined Prokopcuka after about 10 miles (16 kms) and the two ran alongside one another until the Latvian began to pull away about three miles from the finish.
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Meanwhile, Marilson Gomes dos Santos broke away from the pack with about six miles to go to become the first Brazilian to win the men's race.
Gomes won the race in two hours, nine minutes and 58 seconds ahead of four Kenyans.
Stephen Kiogora, fourth in the 2004 Boston Marathon, was second in 2:10:06 followed by world record holder and 2005 NYC champion Paul Tergat in 2:10:10.
Twenty-four seconds farther back was Daniel Yego, who finished ahead of fellow Kenyan Rodgers Rop and Olympic champion Stefano Baldini of Italy, who was sixth in 2:11:33.
Tour de France winning cyclist Lance Armstrong grabbed a lot of public interest by competing in the marathon - his first - at the age of 35, following his retirement from competitive cycling.
He finished in a time just under 3 hours, which had been his goal.
He was raising money for his cancer charity by taking part in the run.
- REUTERS
