Eliud Kipchoge and Tigist Tufa win the elite London Marathon races

Eliud Kipchoge has fended off the challenge of defending champion Wilson Kipsang to win the men's elite race at the London Marathon.

Former 5,000m world champion Kipchoge duelled with Kipsang throughout the race but broke away from his fellow Kenyan in the final 800 meters to finish with a time of 2:04:47.

Kipsang crossed the finishing line five seconds behind the winner, while world record holder Dennis Kimetto finished third in 2:05:50.

Ethiopia's Tigist Tufa dominated the elite women's race, breaking clear of the chasing pack to comfortably finish in 2:23:22, 18 seconds ahead of two-time winner Mary Keitany and Tirfi Tsegaye. Both of the Kenyan runners had been tipped to win the race.

Tufa is the first Ethiopian runner to win the marathon since 2001.

Radcliffe's final race

Sonia Samuels, the first British athlete to finish the race, came in 16th in a time of 2:31:45.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe finished the race in her last competitive marathon in London.

The 41-year-old brought the curtain down on a glorious sporting career, finishing with an unofficial time of 2:36:55.

"Down the last mile I thought 'I don't care about the time' I just wanted to thank as many people as I could," Radcliffe told the BBC after the race.

"You can't come to the London Marathon and not give an honest effort. But I went off way too fast but from then on it got more and more emotional.

"There was a big sign at Embankment saying 'we will miss you' but it won't be as much as I will miss you."

Injuries prevented Radcliffe from training sufficiently to compete in the elite race.