Nov 4, 2007, 23:10 GMT
Washington/New York - Britain's Paula Radcliffe and Kenya's Martin Lel ruled the women's and men's New York marathon on a sparkling autumn Sunday, but Ethiopia's Gete Wami took the grand half-a-million-dollar prize by coming in second in the women's race.
The second-place win put Wami 15 points up in the aggregate for the first ever World Marathon Majors jackpot. She outran Latvia's Jelena Prokopcuka who also had her heart set on the prize, and who also only needed a good place to win the jackpot.
'I'm so happy to be the first World Marathon Majors winner,' said the 32-year old Wami, according to a story on the majors' website. 'I came to New York to win the jackpot, and I did it. The race felt good and I'm happy.'
Prokopcuka, the two-time defending champion, came in third behind Wami in the New York race.
British world-record holder Radcliffe, who kept training well into pregnancy, was in top form again after giving birth in January, covering the 42.2-kilometers through the five boroughs of New York City in 2:23:09. Wami came in 23 seconds later (2:23:13), followed by Prokopcuka (2:26:13.)
Lel won the men's race by only 12 seconds after a neck-and-neck contest with Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri - a repeat of the battle they waged in the London marathon earlier this year. Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa took third.
Lel ran 2:09:04, Goumri 2:09:16 and Ramaala 2:11:25.
Lel and Goumri pulled away from a crowded lead pack late in the race.
In the wheelchair division, Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland won the women's competition in 1:52:38 and Kurt Fearnley of Australia took the men's in 1:33:58.
Wami's 500,000-dollar prize will be awarded on Monday in New York by the consortium of the World Marathon Majors, an organization of five major marathons - Boston, Berlin, London, Chicago and New York - set up two years ago.
The inaugural Marathon Majors covered the races in New York, Boston, Chicago, Berlin and London in 2006 and 2007, plus the world championship race this year in Osaka.
The awards will be made to Wami and the men's aggregate winner, Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot, who secured his half-million-dollar jackpot with two wins in Boston plus first place in Chicago 2006 and fourth place there this year.
The sporting community was surprised that Wami tackled the New York race so soon after winning the Berlin marathon just 35 days ago, but she insisted that she had enough energy for another gruelling run.
Wami won both Berlin races and came in second last year in London. Prokobcuka had last year's New York win plus two second-place finishes in Boston.
Radcliffe, who said before the race that she loves 'the buzz of the city ... the amazing crowd support,' has not run a marathon since winning the 2005 world title in Helsinki. She gave birth in January to a daughter, Isla.
Your Talkback on this Story