Lagat leads Kenyan sweep of Boston Marathon

By Jimmy Golen, Associated Press, 04/17/2000

BOSTON -- Elijah Lagat won the Boston Marathon today in the closest finish in the race's 104-year history, outsprinting two others to give Kenya its 10th consecutive victory. Catherine Ndereba made it a Kenyan sweep, winning the women's race in another close finish.

Irina Bogacheva of Kyrgyzstan (left) crosses the finish line to nip Ethiopia's Fatuma Roba for second. Catherine Ndereba won with a time of 2:26'11". (AFP Photo)

Lagat won in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 47 seconds to break the tape a stride ahead of Ethiopian Gezahenge Abera, who was second in the same time. Kenya's Moses Tanui was three seconds back after making his move with 200 yards to go but tiring before the finish.

As he fell back, Lagat took the lead and just barely held off Abera. In the 1988 race, Ibrahim Hussein beat Juma Ikangaa by one second; the closest three-way finish had been 18 seconds, in 1998, when Tanui won for the second time.

"After I saw Moses leaving, I was trying to fight for the second position. But I found that I was moving closer to Moses," Lagat said. "Then I started to sprint to the maximum that I could make, and that's how I managed to win."

The 10 straight Kenyan victories is also unprecedented. Americans won from 1916-25, but the 1918 race was a relay race.

Jamie Hibell, of Bethlehem, Pa., was the top American finisher, coming in 24th with a time of 2:22:09.

Ndereba made her move in the final mile to win in 2:26:11 and snapped Fatuma Roba's three-year winning streak. In a photo finish for second place, Kyrgyzstan's Irina Bogacheva edged Roba at 2:26:27.

The women's finish also was the closest in race history.

Roba was in the lead pack for much of the race. At about 22 miles, Ndereba pulled even with the Ethiopian and the two ran together from there until the final mile.

Bogacheva passed Roba with a final kick at the finish line.

Jean Driscoll won the women's wheelchair race, securing an unprecedented eighth laurel wreath in a time of 2:00:53. Franz Nietlispach of Switzerland won his fifth wheelchair race today and his fourth in a row, in 1:33:32.

All of the times were slowed by a 13 mph headwind that battled the field of 17,813 along the 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston's Copley Square.

Driscoll, of Champaign, Ill., surpasses Clarence DeMar, who won the men's open division seven times from 1911-30. She won by 23 seconds over Australia's Louise Sauvage, who snapped Driscoll's seven-race winning streak in 1997 and beat her in each of the past three years.

"It's been a long time coming," Driscoll said. "I dreamed about No. 8 for so long."

The field was the second-largest in race history, behind only the 38,000 that lined up for the 100th edition in 1996.