Athletics-Kipchoge runs quickest marathon in just over two hours

MONZA, Italy, May 6 ( Reuters) - Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge ran the quickest recorded marathon time at the Monza circuit in Italy on Saturday, crossing the line in two hours and 24 seconds but missing out on an attempt to break the two-hour barrier.

The 32-year-old Kipchoge's time, set on a Formula 1 track, smashed the official mark of 2:02.57 set by Kenyan Dennis Kimetto in Berlin in 2014, but will not enter the record books largely due to a non-compliant system of pacemaking.

The race involved just three competitors and was sponsored by sportswear group Nike in an athletics cum marketing project, Breaking2, which caught the imagination of sports fans and runners worldwide.

Nike had pitched it as sport's "moon shot".

Eritrean Zersenay Tadese and Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa, the other two main runners, both dropped off the pace and were out of the running by the halfway mark. (Reporting by Mark Bendeich, Editing by John O'Brien)