NEW YORK, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Paula Radcliffe of Britain won her third New York City Marathon Sunday and Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil won for the second time.
Radcliffe, who also won last year and in 2004, finished in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 56 seconds. She led virtually the entire way with Ludmila Petrova of Russia taking second, almost two minutes back.
"It was my goal to come here and to win it for a third time, and just go a tiny little way to the way of achieving what Grete achieved, so I'm happy to do that," said Radcliffe.
Gomes dos Santos, whose other NYC Marathon victory came in 2006, turned in a time of 2 hours, eight minutes and 43 seconds -- just 24 seconds ahead of Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri.
"It was a hard race, a difficult race, a very strong field," said Gomes dos Santos. "I have seen many marathons that are decided at the last minute, so you never lose hope. I got focused, and that's why I could pass him and win the race."
The top Americans were Kara Goucher, who was third in the women's division 10 seconds behind Petrova, and Abdi Abdirahman, who was sixth among the men with a time of 2:14:17.
