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Kenyan Evans Chebet wins Boston Marathon

JIMMY GOLENAP
Evans Chebet, of Kenya, hits the finish line to win the 126th Boston Marathon
Camera IconEvans Chebet, of Kenya, hits the finish line to win the 126th Boston Marathon Credit: AP

Evans Chebet of Kenya won the men's Boston Marathon as the race returned to its traditional Patriots' Day spot in the schedule.

Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Boston Marathon women's division by winning a see-saw sprint down Boylston Streeton Monday.

Running shoulder to shoulder for most of the course, she and Ethiopia's Ababel Yeshaneh traded places eight times in the 1.6km with Jepchirchir pulling ahead for good in the final 352 metres. The Kenyan finished in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 1 seconds, four seconds ahead.

In the men's race Chebet pulled away with about 6.4km to go to win in 2:06:51, 30 seconds ahead of Gabriel Geay of Tanzania. Defending champion Benson Kipruto was third.

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Daniel Romanchuk won his second career men's wheelchair title in 1:26:58. Switzerland's Manuela Schar won her second straight Boston crown and fourth overall, finishing in 1:41:08.

Susannah Scaroni came second behind Schar in the women's wheelchair with 1:46:20 followed by Australian Madison De Rozario in 1:52:48.

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Sharing a weekend with the Red Sox home opener -- the city's other sporting rite of spring -- more than 28,000 runners returned to the streets from Hopkinton to Copley Square six months after a smaller and socially distanced event that was the only fall race in its 126-year history.

Fans waved Ukrainian flags in support of the few dozen runners whose marathon from Hopkinton to Copley Square was the easiest part of their journey.

Ukrainians who were unable to make it to Boston were offered a deferral or refund.

"Whatever they want to do, they can do," Boston Athletic Association President Tom Grilk said. "Run this year, run next year. You want a puppy? Whatever. There is no group we want to be more helpful to."

The 125th race was first postponed, then called off because of the pandemic -- the first cancellation since the event began in 1897. In 2021, it was as postponed until October.

This year's race marked the 50th anniversary of Nina Kuscsik's victory as the first official women's winner. The actual first woman to finish the race was Bobbi Gibb, who first ran in 1966 among the unofficial runners known as bandits.

Valerie Rogosheske, who finished sixth in '72, said she had been planning to hide in the bushes and run as a bandit before women got the go-ahead a few weeks before the race. She is running this year with her daughters, and served as the honorary starter for the women's elite field.

"There was just this feeling of, 'Boy, we're going to do this. No one can drop out. There are eyes upon us,'" she said at the starting line on Monday.

"Many people didn't think we should be running a marathon. So that's why we really felt that pressure but opportunity as well to finish this marathon."

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