Elements are all in place for Cheruiyot's third win

When he heard the Kenyan anthem played for him for the third time in Copley Square, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot found himself fighting back tears. Same old song, yet powerful emotions for a man who was homeless and penniless a decade ago but has found a welcome mat and riches here.

"The anthem reminds me of my country, my missing home, my family," said the 28-year-old Cheruiyot , after he'd run into the wind and away from the field yesterday to win the 111th Boston Marathon by 20 seconds over surprising James Kwambai and lead a Kenyan sweep of the first four places. "Sometimes, you feel like crying. It is part of happiness."

It was the first time the men's champion had defended his title since 1995, when Cosmas Ndeti became the last to win the world's oldest annual road race three times.

"Few people will do what I have done," mused Cheruiyot, who earned $100,000 and all but wrapped up the World Marathon Majors title with his third straight victory in the two-year-series.

While Cheruiyot's winning time (2:14:13) was the slowest since Canada's Jerome Drayton ran 2:14:46 in 77-degree heat in 1977, it was irrelevant on a wet day with an easterly headwind that blew around 30 miles per hour for much of the race. "Where we were coming from," testified Cheruiyot, "was horrible."

They were conditions that rewarded, in turn, caution and audacity and they were tailor-made for Cheruiyot, who knows the course by heart after covering it every year since 2003, when he won the race in his debut. "He's the grand master of championship-style racing like today," saluted Peter Gilmore, who was the top American in eighth (2:16:41).

Cheruiyot already had the course record (last year's 2:07:14) on his résumé, so he saw no need to show the way to the Back Bay for everybody else. So while countrymen Josephat Ongeri and Jared Nyamboki , weekend plodders whose mission was to publicize their shoe company, ran away from the pack for the first 16 miles, Cheruiyot sat back prudently amid plenty of company.

"I was thinking maybe the race will be 2:20," said Cheruiyot, after the leaders went through the half-marathon in a somnolent 1:07:07 with the main bunch another 1:37 astern. "Everyone was around. Nobody wanted to go ahead. Nobody wanted to remain behind."

So the oversized group toddled along on an unfun run through Wellesley and into Newton, 16 guys who were waiting for someone to do something. The hills did their part, chopping the pack in half by Heartbreak. By then, Ongeri and Nyamboki were out and forgotten. "Slowly, guys started to get peeled off," said Gilmore, who was among those shaken loose.

Coming into the Haunted Mile after Boston College, the graveyard of so many holiday dreams since 1897, the contenders were down to seven -- Cheruiyot, Kwambai, Stephen Kiogora , James Koskei , Benjamin Maiyo , Teferi Wodajo, and Philip Manyim . "From 35 kilometers," said Cheruiyot, "that is when we start the marathon."

By Coolidge Corner, with little more than 2 miles to go, the race was down to Cheruiyot, Kwambai, and Kiogora. And then it was Cheruiyot and Kwambai, shoulder to shoulder, and the Boston rookie had a dilemma. Dare he dash away and try to steal the race and risk blowing up? Or settle for second and a nice $40,000 payday?

"I was staying behind because I wanted to be careful," said the 24-year-old Kwambai, who'd won in Beijing and Brescia last year but was stepping up in class. "Some other people could come and get me."

So the defending champ ran away over the final mile and never glanced over his shoulder. "When a lion is chasing an antelope, he doesn't look back," said Cheruiyot. "He has to eat."

The trip down Boylston Street might as well have been a familiar victory lap for him, but after last October's harrowing tumble at the finish line in Chicago, Cheruiyot was taking nothing for granted.

"I don't think about falling down in Chicago," said Cheruiyot, who won the race but spent two nights in the hospital after slamming his skull on the pavement. "It's like telling someone that your mother has died. I don't like to think about Chicago."

This time, Cheruiyot had checked out the finish line beforehand to make sure the surface was non-skid. So he confidently stepped over it and into history.

Since the prize money era began here in 1986, only two other men had won here three times: Ibrahim Hussein (1988, '91, '92) and Ndeti (1993, '94, '95), both Kenyans.

"I think that maybe this is the last generation -- myself -- to win Boston three times," said Cheruiyot, who'll likely be back next year to try to be the first man to win four since Bill Rodgers. "Boston is not so easy. It is very tough."