Page 18 - ARUBA TODAY

A18 SPORTS
Tuesday 17 april 2018
Linden wins Boston Marathon, 1st U.S. woman since '85

By JIMMY GOLEN she was outkicked down
BOSTON (AP) — After slog- Boylston Street and finished
ging through just a few second by 2 seconds. This
miles of icy rain and a near- time she made the turn off
gale headwind that made of Hereford with a lead of
her feel like she was running more than half of a mile.
in place, Desiree Linden de- "Probably 2011 is what put
cided she'd seen enough the fear in me," Linden said.
of the Boston Marathon for "That sprint battle is not su-
another year. per fun. It was nice to get
"My hands were freezing, it right down Boylston this
and there are times where time, that's for sure."
you were just stood up by A 34-year-old California na-
the wind. It was comical tive who lives in Michigan,
how slow you were going, Linden said she was so bro-
and how far you still had to ken by the weather that
go," Linden said. she wanted to drop out af-
"At six miles I was thinking, ter a couple of miles but in-
'No way, this is not my day,'" stead stuck around in case
she said. "Then you break she could help one of her
the tape and you're like, fellow Americans.
'This is not what I expected When four-time Olympian
today.'" and reigning New York City
A two-time Olympian and Marathon champion Sha-
the 2011 Boston Marathon lane Flanagan fell behind
runner-up, Linden decided after needing a bathroom
to stick around, outlasting break, Linden let her draft
the weather and the rest so she could catch up to
of the field to win the race's the pack. Later, she helped
122nd edition on Monday Molly Huddle reconnect
in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 54 with the group.
seconds. That was more "And it turned out I was in
than four minutes better third, and I thought, 'Well,
than second-place finisher I probably shouldn't drop
Sarah Sellers but the slow- out," said Linden, who also
est time for a women's win- earned $150,000.
ner in Boston since 1978. Sellers, who finished 4:10
Yuki Kawauchi splashed behind, is a full-time nurse
through the pelting rain, who had to train before or
temperatures in the mid- after work — at 4 a.m. or
30s and wind that gusted 7 p.m. She said didn't be-
as high as 32 mph to win lieve it when she was told
the men's race, passing de- she had finished second, or
fending champion Geof- that she earned $75,000.
frey Kirui in Kenmore Square "Yeah, I'm in shock about
to earn Japan's first Boston that," she said. It was the
title since 1987 and the second competitive mara-
$150,000 first prize. thon for Sellers, who was a
Wearing a white wind- distance runner at Weber
breaker that was drenched State.
and billowing in the wind, Canada's Krista Duchene
Kirui slowed and stum- was third, with a total of
bled across the Copley Yuki Kawauchi, left, of Japan, and Desiree Linden, of Washington, Mich., hoist the trophy after seven Americans in the
winning the men's and women's division of the 122nd Boston Marathon on Monday, April 16, 2018,
Square finish line in second, in Boston. Kawauchi is the first Japanese man to win the race since 1987, and Linden is the first women's top 10 and — for
2:25 back, followed by American woman to win the race since 1985. the second straight year —
Shadrack Biwott and three six in the men's.
other U.S. men. The winning packs tried to draft off the "I'm just very glad that I on the turns. I couldn't even The East Africans who have
time of 2:15:58 and was media truck to avoid the made it." see because the wind was dominated the profes-
the slowest since Jack Fultz rain that was hitting them McFadden said she wore so strong." sional era of the race had
overcame temperatures in horizontally at times. Wheel- two jackets, with plastic On the fifth anniversary of their worst performance in
the high 90s to win the "Run chair winners Marcel Hug bags between layers to the finish line explosions that decades: Kirui was the only
for the Hoses" in 1976. of Switzerland and Ameri- stay dry, and hand warm- killed three and wounded Kenyan in the top ten for
"For me, it's the best condi- can Tatyana McFadden, ers against her chest. The hundreds more, Linden be- the men's race; defending
tions possible," said Kawau- both five-time champions, wet roads made it treach- came the first U.S. woman champion Edna Kiplagat,
chi, who competed in 12 said they were unable to erous to turn and impos- to win since Lisa Larsen Wei- who was ninth, helped pre-
marathons last year — six see through the spray that sible to stop. denbach in 1985 — before vent a shutout in the dis-
times the usual number for spun off their wheels. "I could start to feel my the race began offering taff division. "Some of the
an elite runner — and also "It was just tough, it was so arms getting heavy just prize money that lured the women I was passing, I was
works as a school adminis- freezing," Hug said through from all the rain soaking top international competi- in complete disbelief," Sell-
trator. chattering teeth as a vol- in," she said. "You can't put tors to town. ers said. "I have the utmost
Runners donned hats and unteer draped a second your brakes on right away, Linden nearly ended the respect for who they are as
extra layers, and the lead towel around his shoulders. so you had to be tedious drought in 2011 when athletes and as people."q