Ser-od Ba-otochir looks on course to win the inaugural Brighton Marathon.
The Mongolian national record holder passed the halfway mark with a lead of three and a half minutes from nearest rival Michael Coleman in a time of 68min.41sec.
Ba-otochir was running with a pacemaker - Simon Tondi - as he attempts to set Sam Lambourne's record of 2hr.22min.24sec.
He was expected to be challenged by Kenyan duo Joseph Mbithi Muntunga but they were stuck in Vienna due to the ban on air travel.
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