Robert Cheruiyot won his fourth Boston Marathon on Monday, and Dire Tune outkicked Alevtina Biktimirova by 2 seconds in the closest finish in the history of the women’s race.
Cheruiyot ran away from the pack to finish in a blistering 2 hours, 7 minutes, 46 seconds. He missed the course record he set two years ago by 32 seconds, but became the fourth man to win the world’s oldest annual marathon four times.
Cheruiyot and Tune, who finished in 2:25:25, each won $150,000.
With his third consecutive victory, Cheruiyot gave Kenya its 15th men’s victory in 17 years. Tune was the first Ethiopian woman to win since Fatuma Roba won three in a row from 1997-99.
Nicholas Arciniaga, of Rochester Hills, Mich., was 10th to give the Americans a top-10 finish for the fourth consecutive year.
Tune and Biktimirova came into Kenmore Square side-by-side, jockeying for position. Biktimirova appeared to get an edge when Tune nearly missed one of the final turns and ran into a camera vehicle. The Ethiopian quickly composed herself and took the lead before the last turn.
Biktimirova caught her and regained the lead briefly, but Tune pulled ahead for the good in the last 100 yards on Boylston Street to beat her to the line.
0 responses so far
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.