Haile Gebrselassie narrowly failed in his attempt to break his own world record as he won the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon.

A frantic pace in the first half of the race saw him clock the second quickest time ever of two hours four minutes 53 seconds in the globe's richest marathon race.

That was 27 seconds slower than his current world record which he set last September in the real Berlin Marathon, netting him a first prize of $250,000.

But after being one minute ahead of schedule at half distance, the 34-year-old Ethiopian was denied a one-million-dollar bonus when the race's speed fell away in the second phase.

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