Kenyan Nephat Kinyanjui kicked away in the last kilometer to win the men's title at the Beijing Marathon on Sunday.

The Kenyan clocked two hours, eight minutes and eight seconds, beating his personal best of 2:11:18, which earned him the Nagano Marathon title in 2006.

Chinese Ren Longyun, who had run shoulder to shoulder with Kinyanjui for most of the race, faded to finish second in 2:08:16.

Chinese Han Gang placed third in 2:08:56.

Host runners finished 1-2-3 in the women's race.

Chen Rong timed 2:27:05 for the crown, 15 seconds ahead of second-placed Zhang Yingying and a further 26 seconds clear of third-place finisher Bai Xue.

Three-time Beijing marathon champion Sun Yingjie, who has just served out a doping ban, opted out of the 2007 event. China's world championship marathon runner-up Zhou Chunxiu also opted out.

(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2007)