Ethiopian runners Lemi Berhanu Hayle and Atsede Baysa edged out the Kenyans to emerge victorious at the 120th Boston Marathon on 18 April.
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Baysa finished in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 29 minutes, 19 seconds. Yemane Adhane Tsegay finished third in 2:14:02.
Monday’s race field included three of the top Ethiopian women’s marathon finishers of all time. Today’s race marks the first time the racers will follow a blue line down the course, a tradition among many world class marathons that has never been done in Boston.
The 21-year-old pulled away from defending champion Lelisa Desisa as they crossed the Mass Pike heading into Kenmore Square.
His victory in Boston is by far the biggest win of his career to date.
Atsede Baysa of Ethiopia has won the women’s race at the Boston Marathon. She trailed the lead group of Tirfi Tsegaye (Ethiopia), Joyce Chepkirui (Kenya) and Valentine Kipketer (Kenya) by 37 seconds with five miles to go but blew past them in the closing stretch to win by 44 seconds over the runner-up Tsegaye.
No word yet on what might have afflicted the 31-year-old Kenyan.
Jaiden Brandt, 25, of Lynchburg, Virginia, son of USC Aiken women’s basketball coach Mike Brandt, crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds, according to the marathon’s website. Defending champion Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia, who also won in 2013, is running again, along with women’s victor Carolina Rotich of Kenya. One of best runners in the world was out of the race only 30 minutes in.
Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won the men’s push-rim competition by less than a second in the most exciting finish ever seen in the wheelchair race. “But not always”, said Desisa, who also won the 2013 race.Tatyana McFadden has won the women’s wheelchair race at the Boston Marathon. But after the Brussels bombings, he knew that things weren’t quite settled down enough for him to take the day off on Patriots’ Day. Tsegaye and Chepkirui went on to finish second and third, respectively. Van Dyke nipped Fearnley for second in a photo finish less than a second behind.
Zachary Hine of Dallas was the top US man, finishing 10th.
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Steve Beasley of Goderich took 2 hours and 57 minutes for the race, while Phillip Dalton of Goderich clocked in at 3 hours 13 minutes. She and Sarah Crouch, of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, were among the leaders through the first seven miles before falling behind. The first American to cross for the women was Neely Spence Gracey, who finished ninth in a time of 2:35. The team is based out of NY and and is in Boston as part of an increased security presence for the Boston Marathon.Most of the top Americans, including 2014 victor Meb Keflezighi, skipped the race after running in the U.S. Olympic trials in February.
