A year after the deadly bombing attack, Meb Keflezighi became the first US male athlete to win the Boston Marathon in three decades, in a race among 36,000 people, the second-largest field in the Marathon’s 118-year history.
Runners from the world’s elite racers to first-timers were running today in the Marathon, one year after the terrorist attack that killed three people and wounded 264. The race took place in a city with added security measures, including a higher than usual police presence.
In an emotional performance in a city still recovering from the fatal bombings, Keflezighi, who was born in Eritrea but is now a US citizen, pulled ahead of a pack of elite African runners a little more than halfway into the race and held off a late challenge by Kenya’s Wilson Chebet as the Boston crowd chanted «USA! USA!» His official time: two hours, eight minutes and 37 seconds.
Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo notched her second consecutive win of the race among the women and smashed a 12-year course record with a blistering official time of two hours, 18 minutes and 57 seconds.
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