Paula Radcliffe wins the New York Marathon!

Britain’s Paula Radcliffe dominated the 2008 New York Marathon to retain her title by a comfortable margin and become only the second female to win the women’s event on three separate occasions. Radcliffe’s two previous wins came in 2004 and 2007 but this was the most convincing of her three victories as she powered away from the field at the 22 mile mark and never looked back to win by a 2 minute margin in a time of 2 hours 23 minutes and 56 seconds. 40 year old Russian Ludmila Petrova, a former winner herself, was a distant second with American Kara Goucher giving the home crowd something to cheer about with an impressive third place finish.

In windy conditions, Radcliffe led from the front for virtually the entire race and never looked in danger of letting her lead slip.  Taking the brunt of the adverse weather conditions, the rest of the field tried to tuck in behind her to avoid the worst of the strong winds.  It was to prove a fruitless tactic however, as the Briton was simply too strong for those trailing in her wake.

Radcliffe has now won 8 of the 10 marathons she has ever entered and continues to confirm herself as one of the greatest female distance runners of all time.  Her two failures have come during high profile gold medal attempts at the Olympic Games in Athens and, earlier this year, in Beijing.  She has recently stated a desire to have a final assault on the Olympic title at London 2012 where it could be a case of third time lucky.

Brazilian Marilson Gomes dos Santos won the men’s event in a time of 2 hours 8 minutes and 43 seconds. He was followed by second placed Abderrahim Goumri from Morocco who came in 24 seconds later, and third place went to Daniel Rono of Kenya.

For footage of the 2008 New York Marathon visit the New York Marathon Archive or call +44 (0)208 233 5500.