38th birthday yesterday as, like an Energizer battery, he kept going and going after his two main rivals had failed to hang in on this new, tough, two-looped 26.2-mile course yesterday.

Sergei Krestyaninov of Russia, the man who beat the then-defending champion Yara by three minutes in the 1992 race, threw in the towel at the halfway stage after limping heavily on his left foot.

And when another American, Scott Bagley, sped by Yara in an ambulance after dropping out of the race near Government Gate on the second lap, Yara knew the race was his with three miles still to go.

The Texas resident produced a strong finish to break the tape in 2:31:43, over six minutes ahead of surprise second-place finisher Kavin Smith of Bermuda who was running in his first marathon.

Long before the finish line Yara was prepared to settle for second place when he lost the lead to Bagley at the water stop near Ariel Sands on South Shore after missing as he tried to grab a cup of water and then went back to get it.

"He grabbed about 30 yards on me and I decided to try to catch him little by little but I didn't,'' Yara explained afterwards.

Bagley and Yara went through the halfway mark in 1:12:03 with Krestyaninov pulling up with the injury.

Yara, himself, struggled on the second lap and the longer he took to get Bagley back in his sights the more he began to accept second place.

Unknown to Yara, Bagley began struggling himself at the Barker's Hill roundabout as he looked anxiously over his shoulder to check the size of his lead.

"At about 19 or 20 (miles) I really felt like crap so I settled for second there,'' said Yara. "I walked for about 80 yards and I didn't know he had stopped.

"When I caught him I said, `Oh' and then I looked back and he didn't take off so I knew he was hurting.

"We stopped together and were walking at about 23 (miles) and then from there I said I was going to run it in regardless. I felt good the last three miles.

Probably what helped me today was experience.'' Bagley admitted afterwards it was not his intention to be competitive, but after the halfway mark he began to grow in confidence after staying with Yara.

"At 15 miles I felt really good and took the lead but I guess I should have stayed back,'' said Bagley, who was fourth in Saturday's 10-K. "I haven't been training that hard and I wasn't ready to run a marathon.

"If I was going to do it I would have had to let somebody else take the pace most of the way. Once I took the pace I got excited and was going too quick.

My legs were just shot.

"I went into the race not even planning on finishing and didn't even think about finishing until about 15 miles.'' Walter Faion of Canada was third in 2:42:21 with Kenneth Gartner of Massachusetts fourth in 2:43:52 and Brett Forgesson the second local, fifth in 2:44:57.

Kim Goff, one of the women's favourites, was a creditable sixth overall, in 2:54:55, two places and just over a minute ahead of English-born Gillian Horovitz who has been a resident of New York for 11 years.

"I think my first half was around 1:26 so I was happy with my second half, which equally as fast as my first,'' said Goff afterwards. "I had no idea what time I was going to run, I knew not to expect a wonderful time because of the high humidity and hills. My time wasn't as much of a goal as to place.'' Horovitz was leading during the early miles as she ran with Sandra Mewett.

"For the first 10 miles I didn't see her,'' explained Horovitz, who won the Barbados Marathon recently. "I was running with Sandra Mewett and didn't know where Kim was. After that we ran together to about 15 miles and then she (Goff) pulled away.

"We were going to try to run together for as much of the second lap as we could but I wasn't strong enough. She pulled away with some other guy and I couldn't stay with her.'' John Clarke of Newmarket, Ontario, won the 40-49 age group and local resident Giorgio Zanol the 50-59 age group. Thomas Ohearn of Massachusetts won the 60-69 age group.

The women's 40-49 age group winner was Bermuda's Margaret Young Lever in 3:27:04 while Jeanne Quinn of Maryland won the 50-59 age group in 4:30:13.

ROBERT YARA -- The champion saw off the challenges of 1992 winner Sergei Krestyaninov and Scott Bagley.