Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia put on a burst with about three miles to go to win the New York City Marathon today with an unofficial course record time of two hours seven minutes and 43 seconds.
It marked the first marathon victory for the 25-year-old Jifar, who was seventh at this year's world championships, and earned the Ethiopian a first prize of $80,000, an additional $50,000 for breaking the course record, and a new car.
The old course record was 2:08:01 set by Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania in 1989. Japhet Kosgei of Kenya, runner-up in last year's race, finished second again in 2:09:19.
Rodgers Rop of Kenya finished third.