LONDON (AFP, REUTERS) - Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge saw off the challenge of Tola Kitata and home favourite Mo Farah to win his third London marathon title in testing warm conditions on Sunday (April 22).

The 33-year-old, who is the reigning Olympic champion, posted 2hr 4min 27sec to finish more than half a minute in front of Ethiopian Kitata (2:05:00), with Farah third in 2:06:32.

Farah, who overcame early problems with his drinks bottle, fell well behind Kipchoge but still managed to break Steve Jones's British record achieved in 1985.

In the women's race earlier, Vivian Cheruiyot shocked favourite and fellow Kenyan Mary Keitany to win her first London Marathon in 2:18:31 but failed to break Paula Radcliffe's world record as high temperatures took their toll.

Keitany, who set the women's world record in London last year, ran this year's race with the aid of male pacemakers, as Radcliffe did in 2003 when setting the unsurpassed time of 2:15.25 to break the "mixed race" mark.

Having shot into the lead, the 36-year-old Keitany looked to be on course to break that 15-year record, running 32 seconds quicker than Radcliffe's 10-mile time. But as the temperature rose above 20 deg C her pace tailed off, allowing Cheruiyot to steal in.

Brigid Kosgei (2:20:13) completed a Kenyan one-two, with Ethiopia's Tadelech Bekele third (2:21:30).

Cheruiyot, who won her first marathon in Frankfurt only last October, came out of nowhere to race past Keitany, who struggled over the finish line fifth and remains stuck on three wins in the English capital, one behind Norwegian Ingrid Kristiansen's career total.