NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 17 – Double world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri showed her superb class, wading off pressure from two Ethiopian athletes to clinch the Boston Marathon title, her first ever victory over the 42km distance, clocking 2:21:38.
In only her second marathon after finishing sixth in New York last year, Obiri showed her maturity and a quick mastering of the brutal 42km race to win ahead of Ethiopia’s Beriso Amane and Ababel Yeshaneh.
Amane finished second in 2:21:50 while Kenyan-turned Israeli Lonah Salpeter edged out Yeshaneh for third at the line, timing 2:21:57, three seconds ahead of the fourth placed Ethiopian
“I am so happy because I didn’t want to come for this race. The coach really tried to convince me but my mind was somewhere else. I didn’t want to do it but my coach told me I had trained well and he believed in me,”
“I decided, okay let me go and do it. I am so happy I can’t believe this,” Obiri said after the race.
Obiri was a late inclusion in the race, having been drafted in to replace Sharon Lokedi who had withdrawn. It was not until last Sunday evening that she finally decided to compete.
Heading into the final three kilometres of the race, Obiri was in a three-way battle with the two Ethiopians, with Salpeter a few paces back at fourth.
With the last tunnel bend heading into the sight of the finish line, Obiri with a good finishing kick mastered from her years ruling the track pulled away from the duo to go on and win the race, tears rolling down her eyes as she hugged her coach and children at the finish line.
Different from the men’s race, the women’s showdown was a more closed knit affair as a group of almost 10 athletes battled together for most of the race up to the 30km mark when it started to break off.
They had reached the halfway mark in 01:11:29, Angela Tanui leading the pack with Salpeter, Celestine Chepchirchir and Obiri hanging in behind her.
At the 30km mark, American Emma Bates had taken over the pacing duries and she took them over the mark in 1:41:49 with Salpeter in tow shoulder to shoulder.
But the wheat began separating from the chaff at the 35km mark when Salpeter, Bates, Obiri and the Ethiopian duo began pulling away.
Two kilometres later, it was just Obiri and the two East African rivals. But, she endured the competition and double teamwork to pick a historic victory.
Tanui, who had led at the halfway point, finished seventh while Mary Ngugi was the other Kenyan in the top 10 at ninth spot.
