Closest Women's Race; Cheruiyot repeat and four-time race champion

BOSTON - (April 21, 2008) - Dire Tune and Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot were the winners of the 112th BAA Boston Marathon, run Monday morning from Hopkinton, Mass. to the finish in downtown Boston.

Cheruiyot, who was the champion here in 2003, 2006 and 2007, joined Gerard Cote, Clarence DeMar and Bill Rodgers as the only four-time male winners in the 112 runnings of the historic race. (DeMar won a record seven times.) His winning time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, 46 seconds was the sixth-fastest time ever run in Boston, and the fourth-fastest winning time.

Through the halfway mark, at least, Cheruiyot, 29, was on pace to shatter even his own course record of 2:07:14 that he set in 2006. At halfway, Cheruiyot was running with a large pack of over a dozen athletes who passed that mark at 1:03:07, and only then began to thin out. Cheruiyot led a series of surges into and among the Newton Hills which clipped the pack down to four, then two and then left him alone.

Relieved of pursuit, Cheruiyot didn't find enough in his legs to maintain his his own pursuit of the course record, falling off record pace in the closing miles after being almost a minute ahead. He will now await the judgement of Kenyan athletics officials to see if he will be selected for the Beijing Olympics.

Behind Cheruiyot were two Moroccans, Abderrahime Bouramdane (2:09:04) and Khalid El Boumlili (2:10:35) marking that nation's best-ever results in Boston. Nick Arciniaga of Rochester Hills, Mich. and the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project was the first U.S. finisher, taking 10th in 2:16:13.

Dire Tune, only 22 years old, became the youngest woman ever to win the Boston Marathon and the second Ethiopian woman to win here, following Fatuma Roba from 1997-1999. She found it far from easy, however. The 2008 Chevron Houston Marathon champion followed a pack which included defending champion Lidiya Grigoryeva and 2006 race champion Rita Jeptoo as well as two-time ING New York City Marathon champion Jelena Prokopcuka, twice second here in Boston, in the early going.

As Prokopcuka and then Jeptoo took turns pushing the pace and thinning the pack after Wellesley, Tune hung on. When Alevtina Biktimirova of Russia, like Grigoryeva from the Russian marathoning hotbed of Cheboksary, made the move which dropped first Prokopcuka, then Jeptoo, in the hills, it was only Tune hanging on.

Tune and Biktimirova battled down through Brookline, both unwilling to commit to a decisive move in the closing miles, and it was only in the final mile, as the pair turned off Commonwealth Avenue and on to Hereford Street before the final stretch on Boylston, that Tune made a move to the front.

Biktimirova battled back, however, and not only pulled in front of Tune but practically cut her off. Tune had one more move remaining, and she used it in the final yards. Tune won in 2:25:25 with Biktimirova just two seconds back in 2:25:27. It was the closest women's winning margin in Boston history. Like Cheruiyot, Tune also earned a race record $150,000 first place prize.

Jeptoo was third in 2:26:34. Unlike the leading men, all three women ran negative splits, having reached the halfway mark around 1:14:46.

With the U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials the previous day, the first U.S. woman to finish was Ashley Anklam of Bloomington, Minn. who ran 2:48:43 for 15th place.

The 2008 World Marathon Majors (WMM) series also continued at Boston and inaugural WMM men's champion Robert K. Cheruiyot moved into second place in the 2007-08 series championship, while Tune added her name to the series leaderboard. For current WWM standings and more, go to: WorldMarathonMajors.com.

112th Boston Marathon Boston, MA, Monday, April 21, 2008

MEN
1) Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot (KEN), 2:07:46, $150,000
2) Abderrahime Bouramdane (MAR), 2:09:04, $75,000
3) Khalid El Boumlili (MAR), 2:10:35, $40,000
4) Gashaw Asfaw (ETH), 2:10:47, $25,000
5) Kasime Adillo (ETH), 2:12:24, $15,000
6) Timothy Cherigat (KEN), 2:14:13, $12,000
7) Christopher Cheboiboch (KEN), 2:14:47, $9000
8) James Kwambai (KEN), 2:15:52, $7400
9) James Koskei (KEN), 2:16:07, $5700
10) Nicholas Arciniaga (USA / MI), 2:16:13, $4200

WOMEN
1) Dire Tune (ETH), 2:25:25, $150,000
2) Alevtina Biktimirova (RUS), 2:25:27, $75,000
3) Rita Jeptoo (KEN), 2:26:34, $40,000
4) Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT), 2:28:12, $25,000
5) Askale Tafa Magarsa (ETH), 2:29:48, $15,000
6) Bruna Genovese (ITA), 2:30:52, $12,000
7) Nuta Olaru (ROM), 2:33:56, $9000
8) Robe Tola Guta (ETH), 2:34:37, $7400
9) Lidiya Grigoryeva (RUS), 2:35:37, $5700
10) Stephanie Hood (CAN), 2:44:44, $4200

Top U.S.
15) Ashley Anklam (USA / MN), 2:48:43, $1500

Complete race results at: BostonMarathon.org