11.  By the end of the fourth lap, the lead group improved its advantage over the main pack to one minute.

12.  Former world champion Lance Armstrong of the United States was fourth, who finished in the lead group of seven all with the same time.

13.  Gradus, Komatsu, Igarashi and Mineko Watanabe, another Japanese running her first marathon, formed the lead group before Gradus spurted ahead.

14.  Last year, the lead group chatted among themselves in Swahili before making a run for it in the last six miles.

15.  Laura Diaz had birdies on two of the final three holes to join the lead group.

16.  Khannouchi and Kimani were in the lead group of eight at the halfway mark.

17.  Montgomerie was to have played in the lead group Thursday with defending champion Ernie Els and British Open winner John Daly.

18.  Race favorite Abraham Olano of Spain finished in the lead group with the same time as the winner to stay in the third position of the overall standings.

19.  Savage-Rumbaugh said the plants were disturbed only at the junctions of trails and it was clear that the lead group was leaving markers for those who followed.

20.  Swiss rider Toni Rominger tried to break away three times, at one point gaining a ten second advantage over the lead group, but eventually fell back.