Abebe Mekonnen of Ethiopia, who missed the 1988 race because of his nation's boycott, won the 93rd Boston Marathon today as Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania was runner-up for the second consecutive year.
But the 48-second margin of victory was much larger than the one-second margin of Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya last year, the closest Boston Marathon ever.Mekonnen's time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 6 seconds was the seventh fastest in Boston Marathon history as he won his sixth marathon in his last seven outings. Ikangaa, who has now finished second in three of his last four marathons, had a time of 2:09:54.
John Treacy of Ireland was third for the second straight year. His time was 2:10:23.
Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway, the world's fastest women's marathoner and the winner of the 1986 race, held a comfortable lead in the late stages of the women's race.
Heading into the testing hills at the 21-mile mark, Ikangaa was a stride ahead of Mekonnen.
At 20 miles, Ikangaa's time was 1:37:06, 25 seconds faster than the course record for that distance. At 22 miles, it was 1:47:38, only two seconds faster than that distance's record.
Mekonnen, ranked fourth in the world, is rated higher than any other entrant.
Hussein was in a pack of four with Ikangaa, Mekonnen and Simon Robert of Tanzania before Ikangaa and Mekonnen began to break away at about 16 miles.
Ikangaa covered the first 15 miles of the 26-mile, 385-yard race on a warm day in one hour, 11 minutes, 54 seconds. The old course record for that distance was 1:12:12 set by Geoff Smith in his victorious 1985 race.
Kristiansen led Joan Benoit Samuelson by about one minute at the 12-mile mark. The leading time of 52:47 compared with a course record of 51:38 at that point.
Kristiansen led for the entire women's race. Philippe Couprie of France won the wheelchair race in a world best of 1:36:04. Paul Clark of Canada had the previous fastest race of 1:38:27 last year. The previous Boston mark of 1:43:19 was set last year by Moussetapha Badid of France.