Boston Marathon 2008 - The Men's Race

The 112th Running of the Boston Marathon - The Men's Race
by John Elliott/Sharon Ekstrom/Charlie Davidson

The Men's Race

Without inclement weather to detract from the race itself, all eyes were on Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot who was ready to defend his back-to-back Boston wins, and to claim his fourth overall victory on the course. Returning to the fray for 2008 was 2007 Boston Marathon runner-up James Kwambai, and fourth place finisher Stephen Kiogora, both of whom were eager to move up on the podium. The start line held back a huge pack of elite male runners, 20 of whom own personal best times faster than Cheruiyot's 2007 winning time of 2:14:13.

The beginning pace was fairly slow with a 5:16 first mile. However, as the pack reached 5K, the pace picked up and the pack thinned, but was still over a dozen runners deep. As they passed mile 5 in 24:38, the men were a minute and a half off the course record, but they seemed strong and ready to push with Cheruiyot in the lead along with Lawrence Saina.

Cheruiyot continued to hold the front of the pack through mile 8 in 38:45, mile 9 in 43:30, and mile 10 in 48:22, setting the pace to weed out his competition. Khalid El Boumlili was still holding on and helping the Kenyan lead the group of 16 men. However, after miles 11 and 12, the pack thinned and, by the 20K mark, Cheruiyot was threatened only by Abderrahime Bouramdane, James Macharia, James Kwambai, Tesfaye Girma, Kasime Adilo and William Kiplagat, whose personal best 2:06:50 from the 1999 Amsterdam Marathon was the fastest in the field.

The halfway point was reached at 1:03:07 with Cheruiyot still in command. Shortly thereafter, runners started to drop away as the ever-thinning lead pack crossed the 16-mile marker in 1:16:49, leaving the defending champion alone with only Bouramdane, Adillo, and the persistent Kwambai to challenge him. After mile 17, the men were back on record pace, thanks mostly to Cheruiyot's urging. With Heartbreak Hill fast approaching, Cheruiyot set a blistering 4:37 pace between miles 18 and 19, creating what seemed like an insurmountable lead over his competitors. He ran Heartbreak at a five-minute-mile pace though slowed considerably to 5:17 between miles 20 and 21, and again hit 5:00 between miles 22 and 23, but Cheruiyot was never to be caught.

Throughout the day, Cheruiyot's lead fell to as little as 21 seconds but, with his surge at Heartbreak Hill, his half-minute lead was simply too much for the other runners to handle. As he crossed the 35K marker, Cheruiyot was losing time on his old record but was still 14 seconds ahead of his course PR and over half a minute ahead of Bouramdane, his closest competitor. Cheruiyot continued to edge toward his PR, passing mile 23 in 1:51:16 and echoing his record-setting run in 2006. It was somewhat expected, but Cheruiyot began to slow in the final miles, running a pace of over 5:00 per mile and hitting the 25-mile mark at 2:01:29. At this point, he was off his course record, but had the lead well in hand.

Knowing the record was out of reach, Cheruiyot eased up ever so slightly through the final 1.2 miles to soak up the win and enjoy his fantastic performance, breaking the tape with a smile on his face at 2:07:46, half a minute off his course record. After a 2:14 finish in 2007, Cheruiyot had been hoping for a 2:07 finishing time and his time in '08-the sixth fastest in Boston history-earned him the three-peat and a place in the marathon pantheon. Outgunned by Cheruioyot's front-running, the two trailing Moroccans simply could not keep up. Bouramdane had a strong second-place finish in 2:09:04 (his second best time to date), followed by El Boumlili in 2:10:35. Kwambai, who was runner-up in 2007 in a time of 2:14:33, finished eighth in 2008, strolling across the finish line more than a minute slower than the previous year. Likewise, Koskei, whose 2:15:05 earned him fourth place at the 2007 edition of the race, tacked on an additional minute to his 2008 time and crossed the line ninth in 2:16:07.

The final results:
Robert Kipoech Cheruiyot 2:07:46
Abderrahime Bouramdane 2:09:04
Khalid El Boumlili 2:10:35
Gashaw Asfaw 2:10:47
Kasime Adillo 2:12:24
Timothy Cherigat 2:14:13
Christopher Cheboiboch 2:14:47
James Kwambai 2:15:52
James Koskei 2:16:07
Nicholas A. Arciniaga 2:16:13