Kenyan runner Francis Kiprop won the Madrid Marathon on Sunday, setting a new record for the event with a time of two hours, 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

He finished ahead of his fellow countryman Nickson Kurgat, while Spain's Vanessa Veiga won the women's race.

The race was held just two weeks after two bombs at the Boston Marathon left three people dead and many injured and Boston was clearly on the mind of many of the runners in Madrid.

Madrid itself suffered a terrorist attack when 191 people lost their lives in a series of train bombs on March 2004 and that added to the solidarity felt towards the American city.

About 26,000 people took part in the event and many of them wore black armbands or made the letter 'B' on their vests in memory of the Boston victims, while there was also a minute's silence held before the race, which was held in bright but cold conditions in the Spanish capital.

There was also extra security for the event with 400 national police drafted in alongside a further 390 local police, as well as mobility agents and 250 medical workers.

The marathon is held just over four months before Madrid will know whether it has been chosen to host the 2020 Olympic Games and the city's bid was also represented when a member of the Spanish parachute regiment landed at the starting line in the central Plaza de Colon just before the start of the race carrying the banner of the 2020 candidacy.

However in the end a marathon is about those who run the 42 kilometers through the streets and those who line them to cheer them on and in both numbers of runners and spectators, the Madrid Marathon has to be considered a success.

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