Defending champion John Kelai of Kenya, as expected, won the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.

The 31-year-old proved a class above the rest of the field to cover the gruelling 42-km course in two hours, 12 minutes and 03 seconds, an improvement on last year's effort of 2:12.27 seconds.

The victory made him richer by US $31,000.

Around 33,000 runners, including celebrities, corporate executives, students and housewives, joined in the fifth annual run, which included the 42-km full marathon, 21-km half-marathon, senior citizens` run, wheel chair event and a six-km 'dream run'.

Video: Hitesh Harisinghani