Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge wins men's elite London Marathon race as Mo Farah breaks British record

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Eliud Kipchoge defied soaring temperatures to win the London Marathon for a third time on Sunday, while Mo Farah finished in an impressive third place, breaking the British record in the process.

Kipchoge raced out of the start, with the leading group registering a blistering opening mile of four minutes 22 seconds, but the Kenyan could not maintain that pace as temperatures rose over 20 degrees Celsius.

Farah, who overcame early problems as he struggled to identify his water bottle and was visibly frustrated with stewards after less than five miles, fell well behind Kipchoge but still registered a time of 2:06:32 to break Steve Jones’s British record achieved in 1985.

Having taken a break from the London Marathon last year to try to run a sub-two-hour marathon in Italy, Kipchoge returned to add to his 2015 and 2016 titles with ease, finishing ahead of Ethiopia’s Tola Shura Kitata in 2:04:27, two-and-a-half minutes off Dennis Kimmetto’s world record.

Farah, who won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000m in the past two Olympic Games, admitted his second full marathon had taken its toll in a race where there was a world record pace at the halfway point.

He told the BBC: "I am knackered. The guys went for it, they were on for world record pace, so it was do or die. I went with it and hung in as much as I could.

"It's so different to the track. It's incredible. It's different pain, different training but I've really enjoyed it. I gave it all, 110 per cent as I normally do.

REUTERS

"I've got a long way to go in the marathon. You get heavy legs. Mentally you've just got to be strong, take your drink and just pace yourself."

Discussing his hash of collecting his water bottle, Farah added: "The drinks station was quite confusing. I went to pick it up but it was the staff. They were helpful towards the end but at the beginning someone was trying to take a picture."

Reporting by Reuters and Press Association.

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