LOS ANGELES -- Mark Yatich surged past two-time defending champion Stephen Ndungu in the final feet Sunday to win the 18th Los Angeles Marathon by just two seconds.

Tatyana Pozdnyakova, a 47-year-old Ukrainian, won the women's division, becoming the oldest woman ever to win a major city marathon. Saul Mendoza of Mexico set a wheelchair race record with his sixth win.

Yatich's official time was two hours, nine minutes and 52 seconds, missing the 1999 Los Angeles Marathon record set by fellow Kenyan Simon Bor by 27 seconds. Yatich, 30, finished second in Los Angeles in 2000.

"I was going for position, not for time,'' said Yatich, who began running marathons three years ago. Los Angeles was his first marathon win.

"Those are a bunch of tough guys,'' he said of his opponents.

Pozdnyakova finished in 2:29:40.

Ndungu, the winner in Los Angeles in 2002 and 2001, looked as if he would "three-peat,'' but he is not a sprinter and had no kick for the final. The 35-year-old father of three from Kenya had said he had a mild flu and trained by himself while his teammates prepared for races other than Los Angeles.

Ndungu led for most of the second half and finished in 2:09:54.

"I have no disappointment,'' Ndungu said. "We have to accept defeat if we accept the win. I think I've attained my (peak) so I think it was a good race.''

Kenyan Benson Mbithi, who won Los Angeles in 2000, was third with a time of 2:11:12. Japanese elite Takashi Horiguchi, making his Los Angeles Marathon debut, stayed with the pacesetters through half the race before falling back. The 22-year-old Horiguchi finished fifth with a time of 2:12:06.

Finishing fourth was Kenyan Charles Seronei in 2:11:23.

The race was run under terror alert orange, the nation's second highest alert level, even though U.S. officials on Thursday dropped the level to yellow. Marathon organizers had prepared for the higher alert level and decided not to change their plans.

About 220 uniformed police officers and an undisclosed number of plainclothes officers and private security guards were stationed along the route, said marathon president Bill Burke. Security was increased at the start of the race and in the "corral'' areas closest to the runners. No problems were reported.

Russian Lioudmila Kortchaguina, 31, finished second in the women's division at 2:30:18 after leading in the final miles.

Zivile Balciunaite, 23, of Lithuania, finished third in 2:33:22. The women stayed bunched together most of the race, elbowing out non-elite men.

Pozdnyakova was concentrating so much on her win that she veered to one side and did not break the finish line tape. She went back and crossed through it after officials instructed her to, mainly so photographs could be taken. Her official time was logged from the first time she crossed.

"Running is the best way to stay young,'' Pozdnyakova said afterward.

"Tatyana is a stronger runner than I and I tried to run faster but I couldn't catch Tatyana,'' Kortchaguina said. "I know that Tatyana gets stronger and stronger every year. Tatyana is so strong, she's great.''

Mendoza, who lives in Texas, set a wheelchair race record of 1:27:07, besting the 1996 record set by Heinz Frei of Switzerland by three seconds.

"The beginning pace was too fast for me,'' Mendoza said. "I was really dying, but I stayed with the pack and that helped me to the finish.''

The temperature was a comfortable 57 degrees at the 8:30 a.m. PT race start but was a warm 70 degrees by race finish.

Yatich said he felt fine, but Pozdnyakova said it bothered her.

"For the Kenyans it was good, for me it was hot,'' she said.

There were 22,437 people registered for the marathon.