Indian Army soldier K.C. Ramu overtook the fancied Ethiopians in the final stages to win the men's title in the first Lipton Bangalore International Marathon here Sunday.

Bangalore-born Ramu, a havaldar posted at the Army Sports Institute at Pune, completed the 42.195 km course in two hours and 23.46 minutes.

Ethiopian frontrunners Abebe Seyoum and Tegayae Desalgne had to settle for second and third place with timings of 2:28.37 and 2:33.10 respectively.

Even the much-fancied Ethiopian Tesfaye Bayu Orgawa, who was tipped to pip his compatriots in view of his personal best of 2:16.45, finished fourth in 2:35.34.

The 28-year-old Ramu, who was the Indian winner of the first 2004 Standard Chartered Mumbai marathon, termed his victory a reward for hard work.

"I wasn't surprised by the result. I have been preparing hard for this event," said the Karnataka runner, who is among the probables training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Ramu is a veteran of five international marathons.

"I've been practising for this event since December. Though I wanted to finish the race in 2:18.10, I coudn't do it. It's ok. I am delighted that I came first and ahead of the African runners," a beaming Ramu said.

The Ethiopians bagged all the three top spots in the women's section of the full marathon.

Marashet Jimma was the fastest in 2:45.54, followed by Adanech Beyene (2:47.04) and Korre Alemu (2:03.47).

Indian men and women dominated the 21.097 km half-marathon.

Shanavas of Madras Engineering Group, Bangalore (1:07.45), Hyderabad's Rama Singh Yadav (1:08.59) and S.B. Singh of Army Service Corps, Bangalore (1:10.05) were the top three finishers in the men's section.

Bhagavathi of Delhi (1:26.24), Chandraprabha Varma (1:31.17) and Neha Agarwal (1:32.57), both from Uttar Pradesh, claimed the honours in the women's section.

Though the full marathon attracted only 500 runners at sunrise, the event picked up momentum when 1,000 participants gathered for the half marathon. The crowd swelled to over 15,000 for the celebrity seven km marathon that was flagged off by Karnataka Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh.

Former All England badminton champion Prakash Padukone, former India wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani, hockey goalkeeper Ashish Ballal, and women athletes Ashwini Nachappa, Reeth Abraham and Shiny Wilson were among the prominent participants in the celebrity event.

"It was a great day, with the Bangalore weather at its best. It was a bit cloudy when we took off with a cool breeze wafting through the course," race director Nathan Clayton told reporters here after the event.

Several rural youth, who came to know about the marathon through radio and television news, joined the race, though many of them were bare-footed.

--Indo-Asian News Service