It was the closest finish Head Referee Pat Savage had ever seen in person.

In the final 10 meters of The 30th LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Kenyan Patrick Ivuti sprinted ahead to win by a shoulder over Morocco's Jaouad Gharib.

After closing the gap, Ivuti leaped forward a stride before the finish line to win by five one-hundredths of a second, Savage said. "You'll see that he actually lunged at the end to win," said Savage. "He put that extra fast step in there and that's how he got it."

Both men finished in 2:11:11-slower than usual due to temperatures in the high 80s.

"For the last 300 meters I had two things in my mind," Ivuti said. "I was asking myself, suppose I beat these guys? And I was asking myself, suppose I lose?"

This is Ivuti's first marathon victory. His personal record of 2:07:46 was set at The 2005 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, where he placed fifth.

Gharib's track background wasn't enough to overcome Ivuti's sudden break. "All of my mind was on the finish but it didn't happen," he said.

The lead pack thinned to four by the 25K (15-mile) mark: Ivuti, Gharib, Daniel Njenga (Kenya) and returning champion Robert K. Cheruiyot (Kenya).

Ivuti said he threw up around 35K and the other three tried to use it to their advantage, surging ahead. The move backfired: Cheruiyot, who had been in front by a hair the whole race, dropped back near mile 22. Ivuti and Gharib left Njenga behind at mile 23. Along Michigan Avenue Ivuti and Gharib were side by side.

It wasn't until the announcer said his name over the loudspeaker that Ivuti knew he was the winner.

Njenga placed third in 2:12:45. He has placed either second or third in Chicago since 2002. "I've tried for six years and never won this race. I'm going to do secret training for next year," he said.

Cheruiyot took fourth by a distant 2:16:13. Cheruiyot won the World Marathon Majors series (a $500,000 prize purse) no matter what his finish today thanks to his victories at The 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and the 2006 and 2007 Boston Marathons.