Britain's Paula Radcliffe won her third New York Marathon crown in a blowout in New York while Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos won his second title on a last-mile pass of Morocco's Abderrahim Goumri.Radcliffe won in an official time of 2hrs, 23mins 56secs with Russian Ludmila Petrova second in 2:25:43 and marathon debutante Kara Goucher third in 2:25:53 on Sunday.
"It was a close finish at the end with the others so it was nice to make it a little easier on my husband this time," Radcliffe said.
Dos Santos, who also won here in 2006, fell off Goumri's pace in the 21st mile but held his form and surged ahead of the Moroccan in Central Park for the victory in 2:08:43 with Goumri second for the second year in a row in 2:09:07.
"I never lost hope," Dos Santos said. "When I got into Central Park, the people got me going and inspired me to win the race."
In cool and windy conditions for the 39th New York Marathon, Radcliffe led from start to finish to match her 2004 and 2007 triumph and join nine-time winner Grete Waitz as the only woman to capture the race more than twice.
"It was tougher this year because of the wind," Radcliffe said. "It was even tougher because everybody stayed behind me.
I felt comfortable halfway and then picked it up.
Radcliffe, whose victory last year came 10 months after giving birth to her first child, suffered a stress fracture in her left leg this year that led to a disappointing 23rd-place finish at the Beijing Olympics.
Radcliffe, 34, jumped to the lead from the opening gun with Goucher, trained by three-time New York winner Alberto Salazar, right behind her for the first two-thirds of the race.