Kenyan runner Evans Chebet wins first spring Boston Marathon in three years, as his Olympic gold medalist countrywoman Peres Jepchirchir sweeps to victory in women's contest
- For first time since 2019, the race returns to its traditional Patriots' Day date
- The marathon is back to its usual field size, with 30,000 participants
- The 2020 race was called-off due to the pandemic, the first cancelation since the event began in 1897
- In 2021, the race was held, but it was postponed until October, meaning 2022 is the first time the event has returned to its traditional springtime slot
- This year's run is celebrating the 50th anniversary of first official women's race
- Nina Kuscsik was the first winner of the first official women's field in 1972
- In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to complete the Boston Marathon as a registered participant
- Race official Jock Semple tried to shove her off the course, but failed
- Five years later, women were finally allowed to run as registered participants
- Now, 50 years later, women make up nearly half the participants
- This year, athletes from Russia or Belarus were disinvited in response to the invasion of Ukraine
- Ukrainians who were unable to make it to Boston were offered deferral or refund
Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir edged a thrilling sprint to the line to win the Boston Marathon on Monday, as fellow Kenyan Evans Chebet dominated a stellar field to win the men's race.
The Boston Marathon returned Monday to its traditional April date for the first time in three years - with pioneering female runners who were among the first to take on the race 50 years ago among the thousands of spectators.
Under a sunny spring sky, thick crowds lined up in the eight cities and towns along the course to celebrate the event's return to its traditional Patriots' Day spot in the schedule for the first time since 2019.
With one mile remaining, Jepchirchir sprinted ahead of Ababel Yeshaneh but the Ethiopian refused to bow and retook the lead before the pair battled down the final stretch.
Jepchirchir, who won in New York in November, needed every ounce of energy to break the tape in two hours 21 minutes and one second, four seconds ahead of her rival.
"Above all, I was feeling she was strong and I pushed it, I feel I'm tired. I go behind, but I didn't lose hope," Jepchirchir told reporters. "The course is tough but thank God I managed to win the race."
Kenyan Mary Ngugi finished third.
Chebet picked up his first major victory in two hours six minutes and 51 seconds, with compatriots Lawrence Cherono and Benson Kipruto second and third.
A huge leading pack stuck together through 35 kilometers before Chebet pulled away, securing an 18-second advantage over 2019 winner Cherono with one mile left.
The bells of the Old South Church rang and a roar came up from the crowd along Boylston Street as he ran towards the finish line.
Sharing a weekend with the Red Sox home opener - the city's other sporting rite of spring - more than 28,000 runners returned to the streets from Hopkinton to Copley Square six months after a smaller and socially distanced event that was the only fall race in its 126-year history.
The 2020 race was called off because of the pandemic, the first cancelation since the event began in 1897. And the 2021 version was postponed until October.
A pair of familiar faces made it to top of the winner's stand in the wheelchair division of the 126th Boston Marathon.
American Daniel Romanchuk won his second career men's wheelchair title, claiming the victory with a time of 1 hour, 26 minutes and 58 seconds on Monday. Fellow American Aaron Pike was second in 1:32:49, followed by Great Britain´s Johnboy Smith in 1:32:55.
In the women's race, Switzerland's Manuela Schar won her second straight Boston crown and fourth overall, crossing the line in 1:41:08. She was followed by American Susannah Scaroni in 1:46:20 and Australian Madison De Rozario in 1:52:48.
Fans waved Ukrainian flags in support of the few dozen runners whose 26.2-mile run from Hopkinton to Copley Square was the easiest part of their journey.
Ukrainian residents or citizens who were registered for the race were offered a refund or deferral to a future race if they could not or did not want to run this year. There were 44 Ukrainian citizens in the field, seven of them living abroad.
'Whatever they want to do, they can do,' Boston Athletic Association President Tom Grilk said. 'Run this year, run next year. You want a puppy? Whatever. There is no group we want to be more helpful to.'
However, residents of Russia and Belarus have been told they are not welcome. Citizens of the two countries living abroad remained eligible to run, but they cannot display their national flags or emblems.
The Boston Athletic Association is also marking the 50th anniversary of the first official women's division, though the eight women who lined up alongside the men that year were not the first ones to run the race.
Bobbi Gibb is acknowledged as the first woman to run Boston. She finished in 1966 among the unofficial runners known as the bandits.
A year later, Kathrine Switzer signed up as 'K.V. Switzer' and got an official bib. She arrived wearing lipstick despite criticism from her boyfriend saying she would stick out. She wasn't stopped by race officials at the starting line, though she did get plenty of attention from other runners.
At about mile four, when a race official named Jock Semple saw that she was running with a number, he tried to shove her off the course and rip her bib number off in a now-iconic photograph capturing the moment.
Her boyfriend, Tom Miller, a former All-American football player and hammer thrower knocked Semple away so Switzer could keep running
Switzer finished the race in approximately four hours and 20 minutes - though she was disqualified.
But the marathon had changed her life and she was suddenly 'aware of inequalities everywhere. Up to that point, I thought it was the way it was because that's the way people wanted it,' she told Dailymail.com ahead of running the NYC Marathon in 2018 at age 70.
She also found her own inner strength to help change those things, which is something she still remembers when she goes through difficult things.
'When I finished that race, I said, well if I can do this then I can do anything. I mean, if you can run a marathon, you can do anything.'
Switzer will be there to watch Monday's race.
After Switzer's 1967 run, it would be another five years until women were allowed to officially enter the Boston Marathon and Switzer and other women runners worked all those years to convince the Boston Athletic Association to allow them. When they finally were allowed in 1972, eight women entered and completed the marathon.
Nina Kuscsik's 1972 victory is celebrated this year. Five of the original eight women are taking part in the celebrations.
Valerie Rogosheske, who finished sixth in the 1972 race, will run again this year, along with her daughters, and serve as the honorary starter for the women's elite field.
Rogosheske said she was planning to hide in the bushes and run as a bandit before women got the go-ahead a few weeks before the race. She is running this year with her daughters, and serve as the honorary starter for the women´s elite field.
'There was just this feeling of, `Boy, we´re going to do this. No one can drop out. There are eyes upon us,'' she said at the starting line on Monday. 'Many people didn´t think we should be running a marathon. So that´s why we really felt that pressure but opportunity as well to finish this marathon.'
Amy Sipe, 46, of Dallastown, Pennsylvania said the anniversary makes this year's race, her fourth time on the course, more exciting and special.
'I am grateful for the pioneering effort they made to make this possible for us today,' she said of her forerunners at the starting line. 'Their courage and fortitude and determination to overcome all the obstacles made this possible for us today and women athletes everywhere. It spills over into other sports.'
Back then, she said, many people thought women could only run a couple of miles: 'Here we are today. We are strong.'
Sipe traveled to the marathon with a running club based in Delaware, along with Alison McCann, 47, and Mardi Ung, 55. The two women from Pennsylvania both ran in October.
'It was taper, rest, repeat, then get back to training,' McCann described the past half year.
This year, the women's field is one of the strongest ever. Reigning Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir, London and New York marathon winner Joyciline Jepkosgei, and Ethiopia´s Degitu Azimeraw all have personal bests that are faster than the Boston course record.
Kenya's Benson Kipruto won the men's race in October and will try to defend his title.
Just before 11 a.m. Monday, Manuela Schär, 37, won the 2022 women’s wheelchair race, with an unofficial time of 1:41:06, according to the Boston Globe.
This is the fourth Boston Marathon title for Schär, who is from Kriens, Switzerland.
American Daniel Romanchuk won his second career men's wheelchair Boston Marathon title, claiming the victory with a time of 1 hour, 26 minutes and 58 seconds on Monday.
The 23-year-old led for 23 miles of the 26.2-mile course, besting a field that didn't include defending champion and five-time Boston winner Marcel Hug, who withdrew hours before the race for unspecified reasons.
American Aaron Pike was second in 1:32:49, followed by Great Britain's Johnboy Smith in 1:32:55.
Romanchuck previously won the Boston race in 2019 when he became the first American since 1993 to win the title. He finished third in the New York Marathon in November and second in the first fall edition of the Boston event last year.
Early Monday, Race Director Dave McGillivray sent out a group of about 20 from the Massachusetts National Guard, which walks the course annually, announcing the start of the 126th Boston Marathon.
He told them that the 'comeback is greater than the setback.'
McGillivray said in an interview that 'it's a new normal,' with some pandemic protocols still in place - like requiring participants to be vaccinated or show an exemption - 'but it´s a normal.'
He said he's using the catchphrase because 'we´re about to see that come to life.'
'We recognize that we´re not totally out of the woods. We´re still sensitive to the virus and requiring vaccinations,' he said. 'We´re really not back to normal for the time being, but this is what the new normal is. The key is keeping everyone safe.'
Eleven former champions are competing. McGillivray said it´s 'one of the greatest assembled pro fields of all time.'
It has been only six months since athletes raced 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers) to Copley Square in Boston for the world´s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.
The 2020 race was called off because of the pandemic, the first cancellation since the event began in 1897.
And the 2021 version was postponed, then held in October. That was the first fall edition of the marathon. The field was smaller for social distancing and the crowds were smaller too, though no less enthusiastic.
More than 28,000 runners were signed up to run Monday on the Patriots´ Day holiday. It´s the marathon´s traditional spot on the calendar, on the day that commemorates the start of the Revolutionary War.
About one-third of the National Guard group marched in October, too. Capt. Gus Ashton, 29, said the crowds last year were great and he´s excited to get back out again and see even more people on the course.
'It's still not quite normal, but it´s a lot closer to normal,' he said.
In October, participants were required to be vaccinated, tested, and masked whenever indoors. The race cut its field by more than one-third, and a rolling start was instituted to allow for social distancing on the course and in Hopkinton.
Six months later, vaccinations (or an exemption) are required, but testing is optional. Masks are required on the buses that take athletes to the start, but the state's indoor mandate has been lifted.
'We're in a good place,' marathon medical director Aaron Baggish said. 'Viral prevalence in the community is low, and we´ve done a good job weathering the storm.'
The women's field is one of the strongest ever in Boston, with reigning Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir, London and New York winner Joyciline Jepkosgei, and Ethiopia´s Degitu Azimeraw all bringing personal bests under 2 hours, 18 minutes - two minutes faster than the Boston course record.
Linden and Tokyo bronze medalist Molly Seidel are the top American contenders.
Benson Kipruto of Kenya is attempting to become the first back-to-back Boston champion since Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot won three straight from 2006-08. Eight others have shown the speed to beat him, including Boston winners Lawrence Cherono (2019), Lemi Berhanu (´16) and Lelisa Desisa (´13, ´15).
Colin Bennie, of Princeton, Massachusetts, and CJ Albertson, or Fresno, California, are back after finishing in the top 10 in October.
The shooting on the New York City subway last week had Boston authorities redoubling their efforts to provide a safe environment for the athletes and fans on Patriots' Day.
Nine years after the attacks at the marathon finish line that killed three people and injured hundreds more, a New York man shot 10 people in a Brooklyn subway car. Frank James, 62, was arrested the next day and is being held without bail.
Authorities say there was no evidence linking James to a larger terror plot. At a Boston Marathon public safety briefing last week, local, state and federal officials said they were ready.
'It´s all hands on deck for these major events,' MBTA Police Chief Kenneth Green said. 'But every day, every regular day we´re prepared. We´re out there. We´re vigilant. We´re at work, and we´re visible. You don´t have the luxury to relax because any individual got caught on the subway somewhere else.'
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Boston's famous springtime marathon returns for the first time since COVID - Daily Mail
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