Kenya's Cheromei wins Yokohama marathon

Kenya's Lydia Cheromei outpaced the field over the last 27 kilometres to secure a comfortable win in the Yokohama international women's marathon on Sunday. The 35-year-old overtook the pace-setters after passing the 14 km mark and never faced a serious challenge afterwards, crossing the finishing line in two hours, 23 minutes and seven seconds. Other runners were forced to compete for the runner-up slot far behind Cheromei. Kimberley Smith of New Zealand, Marisa Barros of Portugal and Japan's Mai Ito and Mizuho Nasukawa remained in contention when the last pace-setter, Maria Konovalova of Russia, dropped out of the race at the 24 km point. Nasukawa took the lead after passing the 40 km mark and held on to finish second in 2:26:42, although she failed to qualify for the world championships next year. Barros came in third in 2:26:51, followed by Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia in 2:26:55. Ito was fifth on 2:27:06 and Smith sixth on 2:27:35. Pre-race favourite Yukiko Akaba of Japan slowed down after passing the 23 km mark to finish eighth in 2:31:43.