Sport
Kenya’s Wesley Korir, Sharon Cherop win Boston Marathon titles
The winners will receive US$150,000 apiece. Korir and his wife, Canadian runner Tarah McKay, run a foundation in his hometown of Kitale and have been building a hospital in the memory of his brother Nicholas, who was killed by a black mamba snake at the age of 10.
The heat slowed the leaders and led to warnings that may have convinced as many as 4,300 no-shows to sit this one out. Race organizers offered those who picked up their registration packets but did not start the opportunity to save a place in next year’s race.
The largely unprecedented offer was issued in response to forecasts that called for temperatures rising from 69 at the start to a high of 87 by mid-afternoon, when runners were still streaming across the Back Bay finish line at the end of their 26.2-mile trek.
A total of 22,426 runners started the race in Hopkinton — about 84 percent of the registered field of 26,716 entrants. A total of 3,683 never collected their bib numbers over the weekend. Another 427 who picked up their starting bibs did not show up at the start; they will be offered a chance to run in 2013 instead.
The heat didn’t seem to be a problem for Canadian Joshua Cassidy, who won the men’s wheelchair race in a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes, 25 seconds that beat the previous world best by 2 seconds. American Shirley Reilly edged Japan’s Wakako Tsuchida during a sprint to the finish in the women’s wheelchair division.
But Korir said that after coming from sixth place at Mile 20 to take the lead, he struggled to maintain his pace and Matebo went back in front.
“I started to get really bad cramps in my legs and needed to slow down and needed to slow down a little bit and … I was then passed,” Korir said. “Soon, I started to feel better and was able to pick up my speed again.”
