When the Ethiopian federation withdrew defending champions Gebre Gebremariam and Wude Ayalew in advance of the world track and field championships in South Korea, the road was cleared for a throwback event yesterday with a trio of Kenyan males leading the way as before and an American woman breaking the tape, which happened here more often than not until the mid-’90s.

So Lucas Rotich, former titlist Micah Kogo, and Ed Muge produced their country’s first 1-2-3 finish in five years and Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, making her debut in the 7-mile classic, ran away from Burundi’s Diane Nukuri-Johnson and four-time champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya to become the first United States victor since Jennifer Rhines in 2003.

“That’s pretty cool,’’ the 38-year-old Polish emigre said after she’d collected double-dip $10,000 paychecks for her 15-second victory - one as the overall winner, the other as the top domestic finisher. The equal prize money was an incentive to entice more homefolks to turn up in Woods Hole on a muggy Sunday in August to swap elbows with the Africans who’ve made this bar-to-bar scamper into their own fun run over the last two decades.

That’s how Brian Olinger, a steeplechaser and US cross-country teamer who dabbles with the blacktop, came to earn more than Rotich, collecting $10,000 as the first Yank across the line and another $1,500 for finishing fourth. “I’m not going to give any of it back,’’ joked the Ohio State grad, who dropped out here two years ago after developing a stitch and struggled with another one yesterday.

Olinger didn’t take the line aiming just to be the first US male. He craved the whole quahog. “I didn’t want it to become just a race between the Americans,’’ he said, as he led a parade of six in the top 10, the most since 1988, the last time that a Yankee Doodle Dandy won here. “I thought if I could at least make the race honest, I’d have a chance to get away.’’

So Olinger went out briskly with the leaders and still was with them when the pack shook out to six after 2 miles. After 4 miles, he was in third place but by then the race had come down to Kogo and Rotich, who’d finished 1-2 at the Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, the previous weekend.

Rotich had let Kogo get away for a nine-second triumph on a hot and sticky day there, but when yesterday came up overcast and coolish with a cross breeze, the 2007 champion knew that Rotich would be with him through the woods and around the harbor all the way to the Heights.

“I was trying to push,’’ said Rotich, who has enough speed to hang with Kogo, who won the Olympic bronze in the 10,000 meters in Beijing and who’ll face Rotich at that distance at the Brussels meet next month.

Rotich made the big push at 6 miles, stepping smartly ahead of Kogo, loping up the finish hill and seeing nothing but an empty street with the unbroken tape at the bottom. “I was very excited,’’ Rotich said after he’d beaten the previous Kenyan victor by four seconds in the fastest winning time (31 minutes 37 seconds) since countryman Gilbert Okari set the record (31:08) in 2004. “I am so happy.’’

Delighted, too, was Lewy-Boulet, the Olympic marathoner who knew about Falmouth only by reputation and who was unaware that no American had won here in eight years. For the first half-hour she stayed with Ndereba and Nukuri-Johnson, nudging them onward. “I just kept pushing the pace,’’ said Lewy-Boulet, who’d been concerned about the toll that humidity might take. “Then at 6 miles I decided to commit to surge.’’

Lewy-Boulet, who finished in an unchallenged and unhurried 36:58, knew where the finish line was as soon as she saw the huge American flag hanging above it. Rotich, another race rookie, had been using Kogo as his personal GPS system, peppering him with “when-are-we-going-to-be-there?’’ questions. Kogo had 10,000 good reasons to mislead him, but his sportsman’s code wouldn’t let him.

“For me it is quite difficult to lie to someone when you are running,’’ Kogo said. “You have to tell the truth. Maybe next time, I will be quiet.’’

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.