Weightman and Letherby 'B', Fearnley second in London

Fresh from their World Cross Country campaigns, Lisa-Jane Weightman (13^th - 2:32:22) and Andrew Letherby (14^th - 2:13:50) have both recorded their first Olympic B-qualifiers in the London Marathon overnight.

A dynamic sprint finish from Martin Lel, saw the Kenyan win his third London Marathon title in four years, in a new course record time of 2:05:15. Compatriot Sammy Wanjiru, came home in a time of 2:05:24, with Moroccon Abderrahim Goumri, last year's runner-up, third in 2:05:30.

Irina Mikitenko was the surprise winner in the women’s race. The Kazahstan-born, German runner broke away with two miles to go, to win in 2:24:14, ahead of Russia's Svetlana Zakharova (2:24:39) and pre-race favourite Gete Wami, who was third in 2:25:37.

World champion Kurt Fearnley made a promising yet disappointing start to 2008, with second place in the wheelchair section.

Fearnley finished in a time of 1:34:4 behind defending champion and arch rival David Weir of England. A disappointed Fearnley battled a flat tyre and an early collision to finish runner-up to Weir for the second straight year.

"I'm gutted right now. To fight back from the crash at 10km, to get a flat at 20km and to finish just a couple of metres behind is devastating. I'm pushing great and to get so close again is hard to take," Fearnley said.

The incident packed race featured a number of collisions including a pile up on the final corner as seven athletes rounded together.  Fearnley managed to steer clear of the final corner crash, however, was caught up in a collision at the 10km mark.

"I've never been in a race where seven blokes can win with 200 metres to go. I just kept my nose clean at the finish, but the race was tough going after getting a hole in my wheel at the 10km collision and the flat at 20km."

Despite his disappointment, the result is a good start to Fearnley's Beijing Paralympics preparation.

After a record-breaking year in 2007 with 10 marathon wins from 11 starts – the one loss was in London – Fearnley has limited his schedule this year to ensure he is in prime condition for the games.

Fearnley has little time to get over his London disappointment as he defends his Seoul International Wheelchair marathon title in two weeks time.  He then races just one more time over the marathon distance before attempting to defend his Athens 2004 gold medal in September.