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 First, at last Chebet breaks penchant for 2nd with win at Boston
Posted: Monday April 19, 1999 11:29 PM
BOSTON (AP) -- Kenya's men added yet another victory to their decade of dominance at the Boston Marathon, and Ethiopia's Fatuma Roba kept her own formidable streak alive, too. Joseph Chebet, a runner-up in his previous three marathons, ended his string of second-place finishes by winning Monday's race in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 52 seconds. Chebet became the ninth straight Kenyan champion, equaling the race record set by U.S. runners between 1916-25 at a time when few foreigners entered the race. There was no individual competition in 1918, only a team race. "Everybody in the world is trying to catch the Kenyans, but they can't," Chebet said. The smooth-gliding Roba, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, eased to victory at 2:23:25, matching the three consecutive titles won by Germany's Uta Pippig from 1994-96. They are the only two to win three in a row since women officially became part of the race in 1972. While Chebet and Roba overwhelmed their opposition, two crowd favorites -- defending champion Moses Tanui of Kenya and four-time champion Bill Rodgers -- did not finish. Tanui, also the champion in the race's centennial year in 1996, apparently was bothered by leg cramps and dropped out near the 23-mile mark. Rodgers, seeking to break the course record for over-50 by an American, dropped out shortly before the 21-mile mark because of dehydration. "I can run the race," the 51-year-old Rodgers said, "but I can't push hard for records. I have to run more carefully, then I'll finish." Another popular New Englander, Lynn Jennings, was 12th among the women in her first official marathon at 2:38:37. Jennings, 38, had run the marathon as an unofficial competitor in 1978 when she was a 17-year-old high school senior and ran about 2:46, a time that would have placed her third. "It was a rough go," Jennings said. "It's slower than I thought, but I'm glad I qualified for the Olympic trials." For Chebet, whose previous two losses were by three seconds each, this was his third victory. He won the first two marathons he entered, at Amsterdam in 1996 and at Turin, Italy, in 1997. After his heartbreaking losses last year, Chebet said he had to train harder to win again, and this time, he began preparing about two months ahead of his previous schedule.
The dogged Chebet took the lead for good just past 22 miles from Ecuador's Silvio Guerra. Guerra, seeking to become the first South American winner since Colombia's Elviro Mejia in 1971, built his lead between miles 17 and 22 to as much as a quarter-mile before he began laboring. "To win a race, you have to take a risk, so I took the lead," Guerra said. "I started to push hard, but after 20 miles, I started to get blisters on my feet and slowed down. I didn't know how hard it would be in the end. "I was ready for this race. I had been training in Boulder [Colo.] for six months." Guerra held on to finish second at 2:10:18 and was followed by two South Africans -- Frank Pooe at 2:11:37 and Abner Chipu at 2:12:45. Kenya's John Kagwe, who beat Chebet at New York in 1997 and 1998, wound up fifth for the second straight year at 2:13:57. As often happens in a marathon, the early pacesetters eventually dropped from the lead. Kenneth Cheruiyot of Kenya, a first-time marathoner, led most of the way through mile 17 before dropping out. For the women, 20-year-old Sun Yingjie of China -- with her unusual running style -- was in front until just after the halfway mark, when Roba and Kenya's Catherine Ndereba, making her marathon debut, swept past her. Yingjie, running with her hands mostly at her sides, reeled off some sensational early splits before her relative inexperience showed, and she began faltering. "I knew that the pace was very fast, so I had to run fast, too," Roba said, after running the fourth-fastest women's time at Boston. Roba ran the final miles with a headband given to her by fans along the course. The large Ethiopian community in the Boston area have given Roba great support. "They gave me a big boost," she said. Roba was followed by 1997 New York City champion Franziska Rochat-Moser of Switzerland at 2:25:51, two-time Olympic medalist Yuko Arimori of Japan at 2:26:39 and South African Colleen de Reuck at 2:27:53. The wheelchair champions each won for the third consecutive year, with Franz Nietlispach of Switzerland taking the men's title at 1:21:36 and Louise Savage of Australia edging seven-time winner Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., for the women's crown, with both timed at 1:42:23. The 103rd running of the race, held annually on Patriot's Day, drew a field of 12,797, the second-largest in history, behind only the 38,708 who started in 1996. This was the 75th year the race began in the sleepy little town of Hopkinton. Before that, the distance was only 24 miles and started in Ashland, and was run on dirt roads. This also was the 25th year for the wheelchair competitors. Chebet and Roba completed two days of marathon prowess by Africans. On Sunday, Abdelkader El Mouaziz of Morocco and Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya won in London, and Kenyans Japhet Kosgei and Tegla Loroupe won in Rotterdam.
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