Elijah Lagat of Kenya holds off Ethiopian Gezahenge Abera to win the Boston Marathon, while the women's winner, Kenyan Catherine Ndereba, kisses her trophy.
Staying with the lead pack through a race slowed by a 20 km/h headwind, Lagat came into the final stretch locked in a dramatic duel with training partner Moses Tanui and Abera.
The lead went back and forth before Tanui made his surge with about 200 metres to go. But Tanui, a two-time Boston winner, tired as Lagat began his sprint.
'Everybody gets to make a mistake, and that was my mistake,' Tanui said. 'I felt strong at the end, but I was too nervous.' In the closest finish in the race's 104-year history, Lagat and Abera clocked the same time of two hours, nine minutes and 47 seconds, with Tanui three seconds back.
'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 victory was an unprecedented 10th in a row for Kenya. The women's race was also the closest in history, with Ndereba's 2:26:11 just three seconds ahead of Kyrgyzstan's Irina Bogacheva and Ethiopia's Fatuma Roba.
Ndereba caught Roba and Bogacheva about 35 kms into the race. They ran together until the final kilometre before Ndereba bolted.
