Wesley Korir wins Boston Marathon in the heat slowed the time 2:12:40

Wesley Korir wins Boston Marathon in the heat slowed the time 2:12:40

BOSTON – Wesley Korir, a Kenyan citizen and permanent resident of the United States, won the Boston Marathon on Monday in a heat-slowed time of 2 hours 12 minutes 40 seconds, there were nearly 10 minutes behind the world’s best established here a year ago by Geoffrey Mutai .

It was the second slowest Boston race since 1985 when temperatures rise into the 80s fell heads, and may have persuaded as many as 4,300 participants to sit this one out. Mutai, who hoped a repeat victory would earn him a spot on the Kenyan Olympic team, dropped out after 18 miles with cramps.

Instead, Korir has won a ticket to the London Games.

“For me, I think running Boston Marathon is an Olympic event,” the two-time Los Angeles Marathon Champion said. “I do not care what comes up after that but I’m really, really happy to win Boston.”

Sharon Cherop won the women’s race to complete the Kenyan sweep, outkicking Jemima Jelagat Sumgong to win by 2 seconds in 2:31:50. Women’s race was decided by a sprint down Boylston Street for the fifth consecutive year.

Korir was 19 Kenyan men’s winner in 22 years. But he is hardly typical of the African runners who have come to dominate the event since Greg Meyer was t he last American winner in 1983

Korir attended college at Murray State -. The Racers, of course – before transferring to Louisville and graduated from school with a biology degree. He hopes to obtain U.S. citizenship within a few years.

The winners will receive $ 150,000 each. Korir and his wife, Canadian runner Tarah McKay, run a fund in his home town of Kitale and has been to build a hospital in memory of his brother Nicholas, who was killed by a black mamba snake at the age of 10

Total 22,426 runners started the race in Hopkinton in temperatures expected to be as high as 84 at the time the last of them finish their 26.2 km long trip to Boston’s Back Bay. It is about 84% of the data in nearly 27,000, with many no-shows are expected to race organizers up on their offer of an extension until next year’s race.

The virtually unprecedented offer was issued in response to forecasts calling for temperatures increasing from 69 initially to 81 of the midpoint.

The heat di d not seem to be a problem for Canadian Joshua Cassidy, who won the men’s wheelchair race in a time of 1 hour 18 minutes 25 seconds, which is the fastest in history. American Shirley Reilly edged Japan’s Wakako Tsuchida during a sprint to finish in the women’s wheelchair division.