Kenya’s Julius Seurei won the Sydney Marathon by more than nine minutes on Sunday on the same course where his compatriot Julius Maritim had dominated for the previous four years.
Seurei won in 2 hours, 17 minutes and seven seconds in warm but mild conditions in Australia’s biggest city, where 32,000 people participated in one of the four events on routes that took in the landmark Sydney Harbour Bridge and finished at the Sydney Opera House.
Japan’s Koji Tanaguchi was a distant second, followed by Australia’s Jeremey Horne.
Seurei lost a late sprinting duel with fellow Kenyan Nicholas Paul Lekurraa last September to finish second in the Athens Classic Marathon.
Naoko Tsuchiya led a Japanese 1-2 finish for her third women’s title in Sydney. She won in 2:52:46, followed by Norie Furuya in 2:59:08. Australia’s Verity Tolhurst was third.
Tsuchiya previously won the Sydney race in 2006 and 2007.
