KEY POINTS:
New Zealander Kim Smith pulled out of the prestigious New York marathon this morning between 30km and 35km, after keeping pace with the leaders early on.
The 42.195km race was won by Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe in 2 hours 23 minutes 56 seconds.
In the men's race, the best New Zealand finish came from United States-based runner John Henwood, who placed 21st in 2hr 21min 55sec in a testing race won by Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil in 2hr 08min 43sec.
Henwood, a former New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games representative, has a best finish of 13th in the race, when he clocked 2hr 15min 05sec three years ago.
Smith, 26, went through 5km in sixth place in 18 minutes 06 seconds, in a group led by American Kara Groucher (18sec 04min) and Radcliffe.
By 10km, Radcliffe had hit the front, taking the leading bunch through in 35min 33sec, with Smith handily placed on 35min 35sec. Radcliffe kept the pace up, stopping the clocks at 52min 44sec for 15km, with Smith running strongly to be handily placed in the leading group on 52min 48sec.
Groucher was back in front at 20km, taking a group of five through in 1hr 09min 41sec as Smith slipped back for the first time and went through in 10th place in 1hr 10min 23sec.
Placed 11th at 25km, at 1hr 28min 57sec she was nearly a minute down on the front runners and by 30km had slipped even further. Radcliffe clocked 1hr 43min 32sec at the split, with Smith 11th in 1hr 47min 20sec but by the 35km mark the United States-based New Zealander had withdrawn.
Smith made the move up to marathons after finishing ninth at the Beijing Olympics over 10,000m in 30min 51.00sec, more than 15 seconds outside her best.
New Zealander Rod Dixon, who won the New York marathon 25 years ago, ran the event at a more leisurely pace today with his daughter Emma.
At 58, his goals were more modest, but he finished in a creditable 3hr 38min 15sec, with Emma Dixon almost four minutes ahead in 3hr 34min 50sec.
Rod Dixon's time through 25km 2hr 08min 39sec - was close to his 1983 winning time of 2hr 08min 59sec.
- NZPA
