Kurt Fearnley wins third NYC Marathon in wheelchair division

From the Courier-Mail in Australia:

Kurt Fearnley (pictured) showed he's the king of wheelchair marathon racing with a third victory in the New York Marathon today in brutal conditions.

The Australian Paralympics star clocked 1 hour 44 minutes and 51 seconds to win by more than a minute from Masazumi Soejima of Japan with Aaron Gordian of Mexico third.

The win caps a memorable year for Fearnley. He won a ferocious battle to collect the gold medal in the Beijing Paralympic marathon and also claimed three individual track medals at the Games in September, plus a number of other international victories, most recently in the Chicago marathon three weeks ago.

Battling buffeting head winds and near freezing temperatures, Fearnley's time in New York was more than 15 minutes outside of the course record he set in 2006.

"That was hard work. To finish the year off with a win here is amazing. I haven't raced in conditions like that in years. It was a shock to the system," Fearnley said. "I love this city and I love this race. That's three in-a-row now, I'd like to make it a few more."

Fearnley, Soejima and Gordian broke away from the pack early in the race, with the trio opening up a two minute gap over the field by the half way mark. Fearnley then made his move and over the next 10km he opened up a two minute gap of his own, leaving the duo in his wake. With Fearnley tiring over the last 5km, Soejima managed to bridge the gap slightly but could not get close enough.

While most Australian athletes returned home after the Beijing Paralympics, Fearnley is yet to take time off from the sport to soak up his achievements.

"I'm looking forward to the next few weeks. It's time to reflect and it's time to celebrate," he said. "I haven't had the chance to sit down and think about everything that's happened this year. After Beijing it was straight to Chicago and then here.

"I'll save the reflecting for when I get home though. I'm in New York, I won and I've got a couple of Aussies here to celebrate with. It couldn't get any better."

In the women's race, Australian Christie Dawes finished in third place, behind defending New York and Paralympic champion Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland.