Intro:

There was a double victory for Kenya on Sunday (3 November) after Geoffrey Mutai successfully defended his New York City Marathon title and Priscah Jeptoo rallied to win the women's race.

Script:

The New York City Marathon returned after a one-year absence on Sunday.

The prestigious event started from Staten Island with 48,000 runners scheduled to run the course with athletes from 115 countries participating in the event which started in 1970.

The 2012 event was cancelled because of the destruction by Superstorm Sandy.

Security was heightened after the bombings at this year's Boston Marathon with barricades set up around Central Park where the 26.2-mile race ends.

The first competitors to cross the finish line were the men's wheelchair athletes.

Switzerland's Marcel Hug held off the pack to win with a time of one hour, forty minutes and 14 seconds.

In the women's wheelchair event, American Tatyana McFadden completed an unprecedented marathon "Grand Slam".

The 24-year-old won the New York City Marathon women's wheelchair race after taking the titles in London, Boston and Chicago earlier in 2013.

No other athlete has won those four races in the same year.

McFadden was also the 2010 champion in New York.

During the women's event, Kenyan Priscah Jeptoo passed Bronx resident Buzunesh Deba at the 24-mile mark and never looked back.

Jeptoo trailed Deba by nearly three miles at the halfway point.

The 2012 Olympic silver medallist and 2013 London Marathon champion, won in 2:25:07 to clinch the 500,000 US dollars World Marathon Majors bonus.

Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia, the 2005-06 New York winner, was third at age 37.

Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai held the lead through the majority of the men's event.

Mutai pulled away around 22 miles and beat Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede by 52 seconds.

On a windy morning, Mutai's time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, 24 seconds was well off his course record of 2:05:06 set in nearly perfect conditions two years ago.

He's the first man to repeat win in New York since Kenya's John Kagwe in 1997-98.

Kebede, the London Marathon champion, clinched the 500,000 US dollars bonus for the World Marathon Majors title.