Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie ran the second fastest time in history to win the Dubai Marathon, finishing in a time of two hours four minutes 53 seconds.

Gebrselassie, who was chasing a one million dollar incentive to break his own world record, paid the price for his energetic start, finishing 27 seconds outside the mark he set in Berlin last September.

Running in almost perfect conditions on one of the flattest courses in the world, the 34-year-old was inside world record pace right up until the final seven kilometres.

The victory will earn Gebrselassie $250,000 from Dubai's world record prize money pool of $1 million.

Kenyan duo Isaac Macharia and Sammi Korir netted $100,000 and $50,000 resepctively after finishing in second and third positions.

There was an Ethiopian cleansweep of the podium in the women's race, with Birhane Adere finishing first in 2:22:42 to also scoop the winner's pot of $250,000.

Adere, a two-time Chicago Marathon winner who has one world gold and two silvers over 10,000m, also missed out on the women's world record currently held by Paula Radcliffe.

Reuters