Radcliffe, seeking a fourth win here in six years, could finish only fourth as 37-year-old Tulu won in 2 hours 28min 52sec.

It was her first defeat in a big-city marathon.

She had won eight of the previous 10 races she had started since making her marathon debut when she won London in 2002.

Her only previous defeats had come at the Olympics in Athens in 2004 when she failed to finish because of illness and at the Beijing Games last year when she finished 23rd having had her preparations wrecked by injuries.

Radcliffe's time of 2:29:27 was the slowest of her career and more than 14 minutes outside her world record of 2:15:25.

After crossing the line, Radcliffe grimaced and needed to be propped up by Tulu, her old rival had who denied her victory in so many important races, including the 10,000 metres at the 1999 World Championships in Seville and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Radcliffe, running her first marathon since winning this race 12 months ago, never looked comfortable in the windy conditions and was dropped at 23 miles by a group that comprised of Tulu, Russia's Ludmila Petrova and France's Christelle Daunay, who went on to finish second and third respectively.

Radcliffe revealed afterwards that she had aggravated a tendon injury in her left knee after 11 miles.

The 35-year-old said: "For the last miles I just thinking, 'Just hang in there'.

"I couldn't believe they weren't running faster.

"I thought I had a chance but then they got away."

Radcliffe said she had suffered the injury two weeks ago during one of her final work-outs and needed a cortisone injection to be able to line-up for this race.

She said: "It's a tendonitis in the tendon behind the knee.

"They scanned it, there was no tear.

"It's just really sore."

The performance represented a remarkable comeback to the top level for Tulu, the 1992 and 2000 Olympic 10,000m champion and the 2001 London Marathon winner, after two years of low-key performances.

Radcliffe said: "Derartu's lovely.

"Even in the race she was like, 'Come on Paula, come on.'"

The men's race was won by Meb Keflezighi, who became the first United States winner since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

The Eritrean refugee crossed the finishing line in Central Park in 2:09:15 after spending the last few strides of the race pointing to the "USA" emblazoned on his vest.

Keflezighi led home six Americans in the top 10.

Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot was second in 2:09:56 and Morocco's Jaouad Gharib, the Olympic silver medallist, third in 2:10:25.


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