Oct 7, 2007 12:15 pm US/Eastern
Kenyan Sets Record In Boston Half Marathon
BOSTON (AP) ―
After finishing his three-year run up the men's top ten list with a win in 2006, Samuel Ndereba of Kenya set his sights on an elusive course record in this year's Boston Athletic Association half marathon.
He got it. And he had company.
Tom Nyariki of Kenya burst ahead of Ndereba down the final stretch, winning his first Boston half marathon with a course-record 1:02:19.40. Ndereba finished less than a second later, crossing at 1:02:20.35 and besting Luke Metto's 2004 record of 1:02:57. Surprise third-place finisher Martin Fagan of Ireland, a 2006 graduate of nearby Providence College, finished with a time of 1:03:04.35.
Edna Kiplagat of Kenya held off Caroline Chepkorir in the women's race, winning with a time of 1:13:35.65. Kathy Newberry of Williamsburg, Va. finished third at 1:16:43.30.
With a laugh, Ndereba thanked race organizers for inviting Nyariki, who, at 36, boasts a lengthy resume on long-distance tracks. Not until 2005 did Nyariki begin running marathons; Sunday's event was his second official attempt at a half marathon.
"I love the guy, and I know the guy is very tough," Ndereba said, "because he's a very good guy in track."
Nyariki credited that experience for his burst down the final stretch.
"Track, I think, helped me," Nyariki said. "Because with (closing) speed, you must have that track capability. In order to win, anyway."
In his first attempt at an official half marathon, Fagan, 24, led the pack for much of the first seven miles. But Nyariki surged into the lead with a blistering eighth mile of 4:26.
"That's what pretty much hurt everybody," Fagan said. "Because we were coming downhill that stage and he caught everyone off-guard, including myself. So I tried to hang on. And it just opened that gap."
The rest of the race effectively became a two-man contest between Nyariki and Ndereba.
In the women's race, Kiplagat, 28, pushed ahead after a trying first-half battle against the field.
"I felt confident after the seventh mile," Kiplagat said. "After the rolling hills, there was flats all the way."
Throughout the dark and gusty morning in Boston's Back Bay, competitors fought wind elements and light rain.
But the wind "wasn't enough to really make me think about it," said Newberry, the first American woman to finish.
Nate Jenkins of Lowell, Mass. was the first American man to finish, at 1:06:16.25.
Tony Nogueira of Glen Ridge, N.J. won the men's wheelchair race with a time of 54:19, holding off 2006 winner Mark Ledo. Jacqui Kapinowski of Pt. Pleasant, N.J., won the women's wheelchair at 1:22:17.
A total of $30,000 in prize money was awarded, with winners taking home $5,000. A record 4,917 participants entered the race, which follows Boston's Emerald Necklace.
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