Firehiwot Dado and Geoffrey Muta took the top spots.
Setting records and beating out previous marathon champs, Firehiwot Dado, 27, of Ethiopia and Geoffrey Muta, 30, of Kenya came out on top as the fastest woman and man at Sunday’s ING New York City Marathon.
Mutai won the men’s division and set a new course record, finishing in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 6 seconds. His time toppled the previous record of 2:07:43 set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia, whose record-holding reign lasted a decade.
Dado, finished first in the women's division at 2:23:15, beating out London Marathon winner Mary Keitany, whom she trailed at the 15-mile mark but eventually surged past with nearly a mile left.
Mutai also won the Boston marathon earlier this year and, following his performance Sunday, Mutai now looks to be an Olympic favorite ahead of the 2012 games if he can rise above the tough competition in his own country. He is the first runner to win both the Boston and NYC marathons in the same year since fellow Kenyan Rodgers Rop in 2002.
Mutai’s win earned him $200,000 for coming in first and setting a new course record. Dado won a prize of $170,000.
Sunday’s race was the 42nd race in the history of the New York City Marathon and drew a record 47,438 runners.
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