Development

Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
Sharon Lokedi breaks Boston Marathon course record. John Korir joins his brother as a Boston winner | TribLIVE.com
U.S./World Sports

Sharon Lokedi breaks Boston Marathon course record. John Korir joins his brother as a Boston winner

Associated Press
8426992_web1_AP25111588484213
AP
Sharon Lokedi, of Kenya, crosses the finish line to win the women’s division of the Boston Marathon, on Monday in Boston.
8426992_web1_8426992-2e30e4274a0a4b31a1af888bdc68d3e8
AP
John Korir, of Kenya, breaks the tape to win the Boston Marathon on Monday in Boston.
8426992_web1_8426992-6bf250a48e834ada8c3514306083baf0
AP
Marcel Hug, of Switzerland, breaks the tape to win the men’s wheelchair division during the Boston Marathon, on Monday.
8426992_web1_8426992-45131599b2934cfa9886d46ea33e9cbd
AP
An actor portraying Paul Revere tries to pull his horse, which refused to advance over the line, during a ceremony for the Patriots’ Day holiday at the finish prior to the Boston Marathon, on Monday, in Boston.
8426992_web1_8426992-0143b6680b6c4211941c009e4324860a
AP
Colonial militia reenactors cross the finish line during a ceremony for the Patriots’ Day holiday prior to the Boston Marathon on Monday in Boston.
8426992_web1_8426992-b421142ec4a34560958664f77445ff4e
AP
Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray, right, sends a group of Massachusetts National Guard members across the start line, launching the 129th edition of the race, in Hopkinton, Mass, early on Monday.
8426992_web1_8426992-3efb9cc84a4a43e294e9dc58791458cb
AP
Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray, right, sends a group of Massachusetts National Guard members across the start line, launching the 129th edition of the race, in Hopkinton, Mass, early on Monday.
8426992_web1_8426992-335a46beb0b249829c819dd85adedba2
AP
Massachusetts Army National Guard Cadet Meghan Drysdale kneels to take a photo of the road painted in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Patriots’ Day at the start of the Boston Marathon on Monday.
8426992_web1_8426992-712e79d731614d2cb8f8e2c30e7a2c89
AP
State Police Trooper Cory Hetu takes a selfie with the group of race volunteers at the start of the Boston Marathon on Monday, in Hopkinton, Mass.

BOSTON — Sharon Lokedi broke the Boston Marathon course record, and fellow Kenyan John Korir joined his brother as a race champion on Monday as the city celebrated the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War.

Lokedi outran two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri over the final mile a year after losing a sprint down Boylston Street to her in one of the closest finishes in race history. Lokedi finished in an unofficial 2 hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds — 19 seconds ahead of Obiri and more than 2 1/2 minutes faster than the previous Boston best.

Six months after winning Chicago, Korir finished in 2:04:45 — the second-fastest winning time in race history as the runners took advantage of perfect marathon weather to conquer the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston’s Copley Square.

After crossing the line, Korir was greeted by his older brother, 2012 Boston winner Wesley Korir. Although the race has been won by a pair of unrelated John Kelleys and two different Robert Cheruiyots, the Korirs are the first brothers — or relatives of any kind — to win the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.

Conner Mantz of Provo, Utah, finished fourth after losing a three-way sprint to the finish with Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania and Cybrian Kotut of Kenya. Simbu was second and Kotut was third.

Korir ran without his bib showing, pulling it out of his running tights as he sprinted down Boylston Street.

Reenactors on horseback, accompanied by a fife and drum playing “Yankee Doodle,” helped start the festivities and add a bit of levity when Paul Revere’s horse was spooked by the finish line decal on the street and stopped. The actor portraying the colonial silversmith and patriot had to hop off and walk the last few steps himself as the small early crowd laughed and clapped.

After reading a proclamation, Revere gently tugged the horse the rest of the way before riding off to more ceremonies commemorating the midnight ride on April 19, 1775, that warned the colonists in Lexington and Concord that the British were on the march.

Marcel Hug of Switzerland had no such trouble completing the course, zooming into Copley Square in 1:21:34 for his eighth Boston wheelchair title. He beat two-time winner Daniel Romanchuk by more than four minutes in the 50th anniversary of Bob Hall’s pioneering push to add a wheelchair division to the race.

“It means a lot to win this year, 50 years of wheelchairs in Boston,” Hug said. “For me, it will take some time to realize what it means, eight times wins. It’s such an incredible number.”

Susannah Scaroni of the United States won the women’s wheelchair race for the second time, finishing in 1:35:20. Her victory guaranteed that the “Star-Spangled Banner” would play on Boylston Street in Copley Square on Patriots’ Day, the state holiday that commemorates the first shots of the Revolutionary War 250 years ago Saturday.

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Categories: Sports | Top Stories | U.S./World Sports
Sports and Partner News