Page 14 - MARRIOT April 21, 2015
P. 14
SPORTS A19
Tuesday 21 April 2015
Desisa wins 119th Boston Marathon; Rotich takes women’s race
Caroline Rotich, of Kenya, breaks the tape to win the women’s for the final quarter-mile,
switching places before
division of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 20, 2015, in Rotich kicked into the lead
for her first Boston title.
Boston. Associated Press “I got to the last corner and
I saw the finish line tape
JIMMY GOLEN interrupted the winner’s Lelisa Desisa, of Ethiopia, crosses the finish line to win the and I thought, ‘This is it, I’m
AP Sports Writer news conference to place not going to let it go,’” said
BOSTON (AP) — Lelisa De- the trophy on the table Boston Marathon, Monday, April 20, 2015, in Boston. Rotich, who also collected
sisa won his first Boston Mar- next to Desisa and 2014 $150,000 while giving Ke-
athon in 2013. winner Meb Keflezighi and Associated Press nya its fifth straight wom-
He didn’t have much time thank them both for help- en’s champion. “I was like,
to celebrate. ing the race heal. flezighi, who wrote the Two years after the ex- ‘No, not today.’ And I kept
A few hours after Desisa “In 2013, Lelisa had won going.”
broke the tape on Boylston and we were sitting in names of the bombing plosions, “Boston Strong” Rotich won in 2:24:55, with
Street on Patriots’ Day, two these same chairs. And Deba in third. Linden fin-
bombs near the finish line then soon after, and unfor- victims on his race bib last was still ubiquitous — on ished fourth, and fellow
turned what should be the tunately, Lelisa did not get U.S. Olympian Shalane Fla-
pinnacle of any distance to have the kind of victory year. “People were cheer- shirts and signs, written in nagan was ninth.
runner’s career into an af- celebration that a cham- American Tatyana McFad-
terthought. pion of the Boston Mara- ing like crazy, saying ‘U- chalk on the street and den won her third straight
Desisa earned his second thon should have,” Fleming women’s wheelchair race,
Boston Marathon title Mon- said. “Lelisa, we want you S-A!’ I was chanting with shouted by spectators. and Marcel Hug won his
day, finishing in 2 hours, to get your due today.” first men’s title earlier Mon-
9 minutes, 17 seconds Desisa was in the leading them.” But the crowds along the day. Ernst Van Dyk, the
to claim a golden olive pack for the entire race, most decorated Boston
wreath, the $150,000 first pulling away to beat coun- The 2004 Olympic silver 26.2-mile course from Hop- Marathon competitor in
prize and a winner’s medal tryman Yemane Adhane history, finished second in
to replace the one he do- Tsegay by 31 seconds in medalist, who will turn 40 kinton to Copley Square his attempt to win the race
nated to the city two years the first 1-2 finish for Ethio- for an 11th time.
ago in memory of the vic- pia in the race’s history. Ke- next month, was among were smaller than in 2014, Security was visible but not
tims. nya’s Wilson Chebet was intrusive for the second run-
And this one he plans to third, another 34 seconds the leaders until the 35-kilo- no doubt thinned by the ning since the bombings.
enjoy. back. State and local police,
“This medal, I think, is for Dathan Ritzenhein of Rock- meter mark, when he took mid-40s temperatures, stiff some riding bicycles and
me,” Desisa said. ford, Michigan, was the others on all-terrain vehi-
Kenya’s Carolina Rotich first American, in seventh. a drink of water that went wind and rain that was ex- cles, were supplemented
won the women’s race, Keflezighi finished eighth a by National Guard soldiers
beating Mare Dibaba in a year after his victory — the down the wrong way. He pected to pick up in the who walked alongside the
shoulder-to-shoulder sprint first for an American man road, applauding passing
down Boylston Street to win since 1983 — gave the city had to stop five times to afternoon. runners and occasionally
by 4 seconds as the world’s a tangible symbol of its reaching across the tem-
most prestigious marathon comeback. vomit. With many of the runners porary fencing to high-five
took a tentative step back “I was crying on Boylston fans.
toward normal. Street, because it was As it did last year, the wearing long sleeves and Officials were preparing for
Boston Athletic Association bringing up memories, a crowd of 1 million spec-
spokesman Jack Fleming good and bad,” said Ke- crowd encouraged him to gloves to fight off the cold, tators stretched along the
route.
go on. A few hundred feet American Desiree Linden Like Desisa, they were also
looking for something to
from the finish, he sprinted led for much of the wom- celebrate.
“Last year was important
to catch up to one of the en’s race. But Linden fell to have a better ending
than that day in 2013, and
female stragglers, grab- off the pace in the final to support Boston,” said
Ramona Turner, who came
bing her hand and crossing miles as Rotich and a pair from Winnipeg, Canada,
to watch her husband run
alongside her. of Ethiopians pulled away. for the third year in a row.
“This year, I’m here for the
“It was an amazing oppor- After Buzunesh Deba, last party.”q
tunity for us to finish togeth- year’s runner-up, fell be-
er,” Keflezighi said. “Hope- hind at the final turn onto
fully, it will be a memorable Boylston Street, Rotich
experience for both of us.” and Dibaba ran together
