Martin Lel of Kenya made history this afternoon in a cold rainy London as he swept to his third Marathon victory in four years in a spectacular time of 2 hours 5 minutes and 5 seconds setting a course record.

The last few miles were a closely fought contest between an African trio of Lel, his Kenya compatriot Samuel Wanjiru and Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri. In the last mile the race seem capable of going to any of the trio, but Lel’s renown sprint finish came to the rescue and neither the youngster Wanjiru or the more experienced Goumri had anything to match, finishing second and third respectively.

Martin Lel will now be able to look forward to the Marathon at this year’s Beijing Olympics where he has vowed to win Kenya’s first gold medal in the sport saying "I want to do something good for this country. It is sad that a nation of champions like ours has never won an Olympic marathon gold,”

In the Women’s race two-times runner-up Ethiopia’s Gete Wami failed to break her London Marathon Hoodoo when she was involved in a clash in the final stages which seemed to knock the wind out of her and leave her with what seemed like a thigh strain. Notwithstanding she managed to grab a respectable third place behind Kazakhstan’s Irina Mikitenko and Russia’s Svetlana Zakharova.