Lemi Berhanu Hayle, of Ethiopia, won the Boston Marathon, covering the 26.2-mile course in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, 45 seconds. The top American finisher on the women’s side was Neely Spence Gracey, a Shippensburg University grad who finished ninth overall in the race, with a time of 2:35:00. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll make Ethiopia’s Olympic marathon team.
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Hayle’s finish time was slower than the personal best of 2:04:33 he posted in Dubai earlier this year.
Elsewhere, Kenya’s Duncan Maiyo overcame a tightening left hamstring to retain the men’s title at the 2016 Brighton Marathon while compatriot Grace Momanyi made it a Kenyan double as she claimed the women’s crown.
But most of the top Americans will sit out the race, having run in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Los Angeles in February. Gibb served as the grand marshal this year, riding down Boylston in a sports vehicle before breaking a ceremonial finish-line tape.
She said the atmosphere has changed a lot since the bombing, but without fail she’s always thanked by those in Boston for returning to the race.
Boston Marathon bombing survivor Mark Fucarile powers his bike across the finish line.
Baysa, 29, also fell out of the lead but never stopped running.
The victory completed Ethiopia’s first-ever sweep of the men’s and women’s races in Boston.
“I’m just moved to tears”, said Gibb after Baysa gave her the trophy.
At least three local women represented Springfield in Monday’s 120th running of the Boston Marathon. Jeff Bauman, who lost both legs in the bombings, threw out the ceremonial first pitch Monday.
Gracey, 26, of Superior, Colorado, is an eight-time NCAA Division II national champion who will be making her marathon debut.
No records were set at the 2016 Boston Marathon, but there were several shared milestones.
“She’s inspiring for us, being women and runners”, Baysa said.
The women’s wheelchair victor was Tatyana McFadden, who won the 2015 Grandma’s Marathon wheelchair race. She said like that year, this year’s time doesn’t matter.
On the men’s Lelisa Desisa, in the yellow and blue, was unable to repeat – but he is a popular in Boston, famously donating his 2013 winner’s medal back to the city as a gesture of solidarity with victims of the deadly bombing that rocked that year’s race.
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“And even when I started to run about a year ago and people suggested it, I thought they were ludicrous”, Downes said.
