Sunday, Nov 03, 2013

(Adds top American men and women runners, men's and women's wheelchair division winners.)

By Sara Germano

NEW YORK--Priscah Jeptoo and Geoffrey Mutai, both from Kenya, won the 43rd New York City Marathon, the first staging of the race following its cancellation in the wake of superstorm Sandy a year ago.

Jeptoo, 29, won the women's race in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 7 seconds. She also won the 2013 London Marathon earlier this spring.

Mutai, 32, finished the men's race in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 24 seconds, defending his 2011 New York City Marathon title, in which he set the course record of 2:05.06. He also has run the fastest marathon in history, 2:03.02, at the 2011 Boston Marathon, though the course is not world-record eligible.

The top American men and women each grabbed 13th place overall. Ryan Vail, 27, of Portland, Ore. ran 2:13.23, while Adriana Nelson, 33, of Fort Collins, Colo. finished in 2:35.05.

Tatyana McFadden, 24 of Clarksville, Md., won the women's wheelchair division in 1:59.13, securing an unprecedented marathon grand slam, having also won the Boston, London, and Chicago marathons this year. Marcel Hug, 27, of Switzerland won the men's wheelchair division in 1:40.14.

The men's and women's races unfolded in vastly different ways. On the women's side, Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba broke away at the start, leading the race with fellow countrywoman Tigist Tufa Demisse and establishing a lead of more than three minutes over their next challengers by the halfway point. Jeptoo started chipping away at the lead during the race's fast, flat stretch on First Avenue in Manhattan, eventually passing Deba at mile 24.

Deba, who lives and trains in New York City, went on to finish second, repeating her finish from the 2011 race. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia, the 2005 and 2006 champion, finished third.

The men ran in a close pack of more than a dozen through the early miles of the race, with runners eventually dropping off one by one. Mutai and fellow countryman Stanley Biwott made a late charge around mile 20 in the Bronx, with Mutai increasing his lead into the finish. Ethiopian Tesgaye Kebede went on to finish second, and Lusapho April of South Africa finished third.

It was the third time in the race's history that a Kenyan has won both the men's and women's titles. The U.S. is the only other nation to have completed the same feat, back in 1977.

Close to 48,000 runners were expected to start Sunday's race, being held for the first time since 2011. The marathon was canceled in the days following superstorm Sandy last year, while much of the city was still recovering.

Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-11-13 1726GMT