108th Boston Marathon--85 degrees, and 25 mph winds at the finish.

[MavKikiNYC]

One of the great sports atmospheres of all-time.

In the Heat, Kenyans Rule Boston Marathon Again
By FRANK LITSKY

Published: April 20, 2004


BOSTON, April 19 — At the start, in rural Hopkinton, the temperature was 83 degrees. At the finish, in the upscale Back Bay section of Boston, it was up to 85, making it the warmest day here since August. But unwanted heat or not, the 108th annual Boston Marathon would go on.

The weather did not keep the Kenyans, who have dominated this race in recent years, from sweeping the titles again. The women's winner, for the third time in five years, was 31-year-old Catherine Ndereba, the favorite. The men's winner was 27-year-old Timothy Cherigat, a second-tier Kenyan runner who had won only one marathon before, in San Sebastian, Spain, in 2002.

Cherigat's time was 2 hours 10 minutes 37 seconds, the slowest winning time here in 13 years.

Ndereba won in 2:24:27, the 11th-fastest time for a woman at Boston. Elfenesh Alemu of Ethiopia finished second, 70 yards behind, in 2:24:43. The 16-second margin matched Ndereba's 2000 victory over Irina Bogacheva of Kyrgyzstan for the closest women's finish here.

Ndereba and Alemu led for almost all of the women's race, and for the last half, it was only those two at the front. They ran a stride apart or side by side until a mile remained in the 26-mile-385-yard race. Then Ndereba, the second-fastest female marathoner ever, took off.

"Considering the weather, that was a very fast time," said Olivera Jevtic of Serbia and Montenegro, who finished third in 2:27:34.

After the race, Ndereba grabbed a grandstand rail and tried to stretch out leg cramps. No luck. She dropped to all fours and stretched. The cramps would not go away. She left the finish area in a wheelchair, still in considerable pain. "I never had cramps like that," she said later. "In the last mile, I thought I had only a 50-50 chance to win."

This was the first time the elite women had a separate start here, 29 minutes before the men. It gave them essentially a race of their own, and spectators and television cameras could find them easily.

The weather and injuries forced out several men's favorites: Mohamed Ouaadi of France at 10 miles and the Kenyans Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, the defending champion, and Rodgers Rop, the 2002 winner, late in the race. After 16 miles, the leading pack was down to four runners, all Kenyans. At 20 miles, Cherigat made the first — and, as it turned out, the deciding — move.

"When I went," he said, "I looked behind and saw they weren't coming with me. So I decided to go."

Cherigat, running with a bounce that masked his tiredness, finished more than a minute ahead of three other Kenyans: Robert Cheboror (2:11:49), who was almost a quarter-mile behind, Martin Lel (2:13:38) and Stephen Kiogora (2:14:34). Kenyans also finished sixth and seventh. "It was very hard in that heat," Cherigat said. "It slowed me down a great deal. I had to take a lot of water, and I poured a lot of water on me."

There have been warmer Boston Marathons, including in 1976, when the temperature hit 100, and in 1905, when race reports said it was 100 degrees. Meet officials had water stations every mile on both sides of the road, and Cheboror said there were many additional volunteer water stops, "and that helped."

But not enough.

"The heat was the major problem," Ndereba said.

"The heat was tough and exhausting," Cherigat said.

And they were the winners.

FINISHING KICKS

The marathon had 18,416 starters. After 6 hours 12 minutes, when finish-line officials shut down, 16,793 had finished. Near closing time, race officials reported that 671 had required medical attention and 136 were taken to hospitals by ambulance, both numbers higher than usual. Starting numbers were issued to 20,404 runners, 53 push-rim racers and 7 wheelchair hand cyclists.

ERNST VAN DYK of South Africa won the men's push-rim wheelchair race for the fourth straight year, and his time of 1:18:27 was the fastest for a wheelchair marathon. The women's winner was CHERI BLAUWET of Menlo Park, Calif., in 1:39:53.

It was the 13th time in 14 years that a Kenyan man won here and the fourth time in five years a Kenyan woman prevailed. Each winner collected $80,000 and appearance money. The leading American finishers were CHRISTOPHER ZIEMAN of Felton, Calif., 13th among the men in 2:25:45, and JULIE SPENCER of Baraboo, Wis., 16th among the women in 2:56:39.

[dallas_esq]

Marathon runners are the cash crop of Kenya.