Cheruiyot, Tune win Boston Marathon
BOSTON (AP) - April 21, 2008 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 earned an
enhanced prize of $150,000 - the biggest in major marathon history.
Abderrahine Bouramdane was 1:18 behind Cheruiyot and Khalid El
Boumlili came in third, another 1:31 back. Nicholas Arciniaga, of
Fountain Valley, Calif., was 10th to give the Americans a top-10
finish for the fourth straight year.
With his third straight 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 straight from 1997-99.
Cheruiyot pulled away from a pack of four at the base of the
Newton Hills, running the 19th mile in 4:37 to finish Heartbreak
Hill 27 seconds ahead of his Moroccan pursuer. He passed defending
women's champion Lidiya Grigoryeva, with the two No. 1 bibs running
side-by-side, just before the 24-mile mark.
Cheruiyot remained on a record pace as he approached Kenmore
Square before slowing over the last mile.
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.
The previous closest women's finish came two years ago, when
Rita Jeptoo beat Jelena Prokopcuka by 10 seconds. Jeptoo finished
third this year, 69 second behind Tune.
The race came a day after the U.S. Olympic women's trials
featured the top American runners fighting for a berth in the
Beijing Games. Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet and Blake
Russell finished in the top three to earn a chance to run in the
Olympics.
With the three new Olympians serving as grand marshals, more
than 25,000 runners left Hopkinton under cloudy but calm skies and
temperatures in the 50s - a major improvement over last year's
monsoon that threatened to scuttle the race.
Among those in the event's second-largest field: seven-time Tour
de France winner Lance Armstrong.
Before the race, Spyros Zagaris, mayor of Marathon, Greece,
presented Hopkinton with a replica of a cup that was given to the
winner of the first modern Olympic marathon in Athens in 1896. He
vowed to build strong ties between his city and Hopkinton, both
homes of the start of famous marathons.
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Associated Press reporter Mark Pratt in Hopkinton contributed to
this report.