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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Runners cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the start of the New York City Marathon
NEW YORK >> Kenya’s Stanley Biwott and Mary Keitany swept the titles at the New York City Marathon on Sunday.
Keitany became the first woman to repeat since Paula Radcliffe in 2008.
Biwott won his first major marathon title after placing second in London last year. He finished in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 34 seconds, beating countryman Geoffrey Kamworor by 14 seconds. Reigning Boston Marathon winner Lelisa Desisa was third and defending champion was Wilson Kipsang fourth.
Keitany finished in 2:24:25, beating Ethiopia’s Aselefech Mergia by 67 seconds for the largest margin of victory since Radcliffe’s 2008 title. She pulled away around the 21-mile mark to become the eighth woman to win more than once in New York. Ethiopia’s Tigist Tufa took third.
Keitany, a two-time London Marathon champ, had twice finished third in New York before breaking through last year when she won by just 3 seconds. That was her first marathon since 2012 because of the birth of her second child.
Mergia is also coming back from a long break. Her daughter was born in July 2013 and she didn’t run another marathon until winning in Dubai in January.
Laura Thweatt of the U.S. was seventh in her marathon debut. In the men’s race, 40-year-old American Meb Keflezighi, the 2009 champ, was also seventh.
More than 50,000 runners are expected to finish the 4
