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Athletes Overcome Wind, Rain and Cold at Boston Marathon

Posted April 17th, 2007 at 11:44 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Special Features, Live Race Coverage

2007 boston marathon winners 260 The weather was bad and the times were slow, but the Boston Marathon was nonetheless an exciting race which, for a short time last night, was on the brink of being canceled.

“I’m relieved that it worked out so well,” said Guy Morse, Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the event. Morse said the high winds, heavy rain and flooding at the starting area in Hopkinton were so severe last night that canceling became a possibility. But the rain tapered throughout the morning and, although conditions were still very windy, wet and cold, the world’s oldest annually contested marathon was able to be run for the 111th time.

CAUTIOUS WOMEN’S RACE DELIVERS EXCITING FINISH

The women’s field was one of the best assembled at Boston, led by defending champion, Rita Jeptoo of Kenya; two-time ING New York City Marathon champion, Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia; and last year’s fastest marathoner, Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. It was Kastor’s Boston debut and expectations were high.

“I think any pressure was coming from me,” said Kastor after the race.

At 9:35 a.m. when the elite women started, the temperature was 47°F (8°C) with strong winds from the ENE accompanied by heavy rain. The early downhill miles were reasonably quick, considering the weather: 5:37, 5:31 and 5:37, a 2:26:23 marathon pace. But the pace slowed as only Prokopcuka was willing to lead. The pack began to jog.

“Today I tried… to run and make the pace, but no one supported me,” said Prokopcuka, who led the field through halfway in 1:17:13. She added: “I had to run alone and try to make pace because I don’t like jogging. When I was behind girls it was simply jogging.”

The jogging ended in the 14th mile when the Latvian picked up the pace, running a 5:31 mile. She followed up with a 5:30 and then a 5:14 in mile 16 (which passes through 25 km). Kastor, looking a little stiff, fell off the pack.

“I just had a really bad day out there,” said Kastor who complained of abdominal cramping and even had to stop in one of the portable toilets. Out of contention, she would finish fifth, but as the first American would win the U.S. Women’s Marathon Championship for the second time in 2:35:09.

Jeptoo was next to let go, as Prokopcuka kept the pressure on. It was hard to believe that they were running at only a 2:30 marathon pace given how only three women could keep up the pace: Prokopcuka, Perez and Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia.

Grigoryeva, last summer’s European Championships bronze medalist at 10,000m, knew she had the finishing speed to beat the other two if she could only hold something in reserve.

“Around the 35 km mark I understood I could win the race,” she said through her manager, Andrey Baranov.

Waiting for the 25th mile (40th kilometer) to surge, she accelerated hard, covering that downhill mile in a blistering 5:10. Her move was simply too strong for Prokopcuka and Perez to cover, and she cruised down Boylston Street to get her first win at Boston in 2:29:18, the slowest winning time here since American Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach won in 2:34:06 in 1985.

Prokopcuka finished second for the second year in a row (2:29:58), a satisfying result given the conditions. “Today was awful weather conditions and I was strong enough to come in second,” she said. “I was really happy.”

With her second place finish, the Latvian remained on top of the World Marathon Majors leader board with 55 points, a 20 point lead over Rita Jeptoo who finished fourth here today.

ALWAYS PATIENT, CHERUIYOT GETS THIRD BOSTON WIN

Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, the defending champion and the man who entered the race at the top of the World Marathon Majors leader board with 50 points, showed his mastery once again of both the marathon distance and championship-style racing. Running a patient race which saw two athletes with no chance of winning shoot up the road to promote a fringe brand of running shoes, Cheruiyot kept focused on the other contenders, landing his third Boston title and becoming the first man since his mentor Cosmas Ndeti to defend his title at Boston.

“You know, Boston is not easy,” said Cheruiyot who grew up dirt-poor in Kenya and was homeless at one point. “It’s very tough.”

Cheruiyot was unfazed by an early race breakaway by two undistinguished Kenyans, Josephat Onjeri and Jared Nyamboki. With only mediocre credentials, they pounded out as many miles as they could to get their commercial message across (but not in this publication). Nyamboki remained the leader into the 18th mile until he was finally absorbed by the main pack. Both he and Onjeri, predictably, dropped out.

With amateur hour concluded, it was time for the professionals to go to work. Cheruiyot ran 4:40 for the 22nd mile and 4:45 for the 23rd, shaking all of his rivals but one, compatriot James Kwambai. But Kwambai couldn’t match Cheruiyot’s long, fluid strides in the final miles.

“It was from 35 kilometers that we started the marathon,” Cheruiyot explained.

Started and finished. The tall Kenyan won by 20 seconds in 2:14:13, the slowest winning time at Boston since Canadian Jerome Drayton won in 1977 in 2:14:46. Kwambai came home second in 2:14:33, and Stephen “Baba” Kiogora was third in 2:14:47.

With his victory, Cheruiyot has a commanding lead atop the WMM leader board with 75 points. To be beaten, one of the four men sitting in second place with 25 points –Haile Gebrselassie, Marilson Gomes dos Santos, Stephen Kiogora or Felix Limo– must win two more marathons this year while Cheruiyot scores no points, an unlikely scenario. Like Prokopcuka, he stands to win $500,000 after the ING New York City Marathon on November 4, the final race in the first two-year series.

Peter Gilmore of San Mateo, Calif., was the top American, finishing 8th in 2:16:41, one place below where he finished last year. It was his third top-10 finish in Boston.

“I never had a race (like today) where I felt in control with heart rate, breathing and those things,” said Gilmore who ran tucked in the main pack, shielding himself from the wind. But after climbing with the pack up Heartbreak Hill in the 21st mile, his legs began to hurt. “I think the cold got me,” he said.