Ethiopian Desisa claims Dubai Marathon victory

Ethiopian athletes completed a 1-2-3 finish in a fog-wrapped Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon men's race on Friday, with Lelisa Desisa taking victory.

Desisa overtook fellow Ethiopian Berhanu Shiferaw in the final kilometre to win the race in two hours, four minutes, 45 seconds.

The 23-year-old, who was among six runners following Shiferaw for most of the race, finished just 22 seconds off the course record set last year.

The pack was reduced from 10 to six at the 20 mile mark and Desisa moved past Shifera in the closing stage.

Tadese Tola, also of Ethiopia, was seven seconds back in third.

Ethiopia also claimed victory in the women's race as Tsegayae Beyene won in two hours, 23 minutes, 23 seconds to beat Kiros Reda by 16 seconds.

More than 2,500 runners set off on the marathon, with thousands more taking part in the associated 10km road race and 3km fun run.

In all, around 20,000 runners were expected at the start line on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard in the shadow of Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai.