Men's race
The 113th Boston marathon has just finished. And it produced two VERY different races - for the men, a super fast start and race of attrition at the end, with Deriba Merga of Ethiopia claiming the title in a time of 2:08:42. Daniel Rono of Kenya came second, and Ryan Hall third for the USA. It was Hall who did much of the work in the very fast first half of the race (first 10km in 29:29, which, despite the downhill profile, projected a fast time, especially compared with previous years), but he was dropped by a fairly vicious attack by Merga at 28km. He fought back bravely, and finished a credible third, giving the USA its second 3rd place of the day, only minutes after Kara Goucher had done the same in the women's race (see below).
Women's race
On the women's side, it was Salina Kosgei of Kenya who won, in a surprising result, as she beat out defending champion Dire Tune in an epic sprint to the line.
Kara Goucher, the US hope, finished third, giving the USA two third place finishes. The race was, to be direct, bizarre. The pace was never on for anything even remotely fast, with the halfway point reached in 1:18:12, and only in the final 10km did the intensity rise. In the end, the race was won in 2:32:16, which was the slowest time since 1980.
Pacing and how it unfolded
Below are the pacing tables from the race, you can get a quick overview of how things unfolded. I have to take a break (live race coverage was exhausting!), but I'll be back later this evening with my full race report and insights. So check in later, and enjoy the aftermath of a great day's racing (so near, yet so far for American hopes for the race)
Ross
Any doubt that men's marathoning strategy has become "go out as hard as you can and hope to get within a couple of minutes of a neutral split" is quickly vanishing. Crazy new world.
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