TONU MUNROE, Boston | Tuesday 12.25am.
KENYANS made a clean-sweep of the 104th Boston Marathon as Elijah Lagat won in the closest three-way finish ever with a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 47 seconds on Monday, extending the country’s mastery of the race with the 10th consecutive victory for a runner from the east African nation.
Fellow Kenyan Catherine Ndereba, 27, won the women’s race, which featured an equally stirring finish, as she upset defending three-time champion Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia in 2:26.11. Roba ended up third.
Two-time winner Moses Tanui of Kenya broke from a three-man pack less than 500m from the finish but was caught by countryman Lagat, 33, who sprinted ahead for the victory in his first Boston race.
Ethiopia’s Gezahenge Abera finished second in the same time as Lagat, with Tanui third in 2:09:50. It was the closest three-man finish in the history of the world’s oldest continuing marathon, officials said.
Lagat and Tanui, who are training partners, earned a trip to Sydney for this year’s Olympics as Kenya used the race as its mens’ Olympic qualifier. Kenyan men claimed five of the top six places and seven of the top 10 with defending champion Joseph Chebet finishing eighth.
Roba, who led early in the second half of the women’s race in her quest for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Boston win, was caught by Ndereba about 32 km into the race and the two dueled to the finish.
Just after Ndereba pulled away to secure the first victory for a Kenyan woman in Boston, Irina Bogacheva of Kyrgyzstan caught Roba at the tape to capture second in a photo finish, with Roba third. It was also the closest women’s finish among the top two and top three runners in the history of the race.
”I had been leading for quite a few miles. It was very unfortunate that I finished third. I was intending to make history today,” a disappointed Roba said.
Lagat and Ndereba each collected $80000 in prize money for their victories. The field of 17813 was the second-largest ever, trailing only the 38708 official entrants in the historic 100th running of the race in 1996. — Reuters