Godwin Adukpo of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service on Saturday retained his title as the reigning Accra Milo Marathon champion in dramatic fashion after fighting off a stiff challenge from veteran and event record holder, David Zigah. The 22-year-old Adukpo completed the almost 42.2km race in 2:32:57 hours with Zigah following up two minutes later at 2:34:47 and Emmanuel Essuman, who finished third, coming in at 2:39:36. The winner’s time was short of his last year’s performance and although it left Zigah’s record time of 2:25 hours in no danger, the race was fascinating in many respects. Read about the 2008 race. Zigah had built up what appeared an unassailable lead after breaking away with Essuman at Teshie, and from the 37 Military Hospital, he led the race all alone till about 5 kilometers to the finish when Adukpo emerged in the distance pounding the ground but with a faint hope of catching up. He told Myjoyonline.com that at a stage in the race, he almost gave up hope seeing how much ground there was between him and the leader. “It was at Adabraka, I could see the road far ahead of me but he was gone, so I said I had to give up. But I know my strength and from the way he started with power in this hot sun, I said he would get tired so I have to keep going. He would have won the race if he was not tired.” And tired Zigah was indeed, for after breaking away from Essuman at the Burma Camp junction, he was always looking back to see if any challenger was gaining on him, and from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Korle Bu, Zongo Junction and Kaneshie, he was wincing badly. Then he began climbing the Kenshie First Light hill leading into Dansoman slowly and without much strength, but goaded on by cheerleaders on bicycles, he pushed himself forward, even if painfully. At this point he appeared to hear too loudly the noise in the background, and he constantly looked back.