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The 120th Running of the Boston Marathon - The Women's Race
by John Elliott
Ethiopians Rule
photo credit: MarathonGuide.com |
[editor's note: This first section relates to BOTH the men's and women's fields, so we have repeated it for both!]:
Tough To Build a Field in an Olympic Year
Coming in an Olympic year, building an elite field for the Boston Marathon is especially challenging. The USA chooses its Olympic team at a single race: the Olympic Trials Marathon which was held in 2016 just two months before the Boston Marathon - because of that, the best Americans could not participate in Boston. Other countries, predominantly Kenya and Ethiopia, choose their teams by committee and the best way to make the respective team is to run a FAST marathon - and because of the focus on speed at the London Marathon (the week after Boston), many of the best would choose London over Boston. To add an extra twist to the 2016 season, the Russian Athletics Federation was banned from international competition because of repeated doping violations, so no Russians would be racing.
With those parameters in place, the field consisted of past champions who often return; a number of athletes who had demonstrated a fast time earlier in the year - especially Ethiopian runners at the Dubai Marathon; other excellent athletes who might be a step below those aiming for an Olympic berth; and a distinct lack of American athletes.
The Favorites Falter
On paper, Tiki Gelana - the reigning Olympic Gold Medalist and Ethiopian marathon record holder - was the woman to beat, but by halfway in a slow race, she was already out of contention. Caroline Rotich, the defending champioon dropped out before the fifth mile of the course with ankle problems... Amane Beriso, hot off an impressive 2:20:48 debut marathon at Dubai was a late addition and expected to place well - instead she faltered and dropped back to finish in 13th place in 2:39:38 - and on and on... And this despite a slow start.
A Slow Start
Since 1986 when Boston offered prize money, the women's winning time exceeded 2:30:00 only two times; but the women started the 2016 race at that pace. The women passed the halfway mark in 1:15:25, with many women able to stay with that pace. Not until mile 15 did the women push the pace at all and the race was down to four women. And while we thought the race was going to be dominated by Ethiopian athletes, we noted that three of the four women were from Kenya and only one from Ethiopia: Valentina Kipketer initiatlly set the pace with her compatriots Fiomena Daniel and Joyce Chepkirui joining her; and Tirfi Tseegaye taking up the mantle for Ethiopia.
Comebacks
The pace began to increase and the race of four women became a race of three as Fiomena Daniel dropped back. On the famous Newton Hills, Valentine Kipketer began to have trouble and it was down to a race of two: it seemed certain that the race belonged to either Tirfi Tsegaye or Joyce Chepkurui. But in a mile, Kipketer had dug deep to run hard up the hills and catch the other two women - and suddenly she seemed the strongest.
Tirfi Tsegaye put in a surge - and Kipketer fell back. Oddly, Tsegaye seemed worried and for the next mile was continually looking backwards over her shoulder. Later she would tell us that she was worried that Kipketer would come back up again - instead she should have been worried about something else.
Tsegaye was strong and moved into the lead. All watching thought that she was destined to win. But behind, with three miles remaining, Atsede Baysa who had been 40 seconds behind the leading three women was making up ground very quickly. In only 1-1/2 miles she had made up her 40 second deficit and then she ran past her teammate Tsegaye to ultimately win by more than forty seconds - an unbelieveable feat.
The Finish
Atsede Baysa became the victor of the 2016 Boston Marathon, fortunately pushing the winning time down to a semi-respectable 2:29:18. That time, however, did tie for the third slowest time since the Boston Marathon introduced an elite field with prize money in 1986. Tirfi Tsegaye easily held on for second place in 2:30:03.... a good day for Ethiopia. Joyce Chepkirui finished in third place in 2:30:50; the only Kenyan to secure a podium finish in either the men's or women's races on the day.
On to the Olympics
The expectation among the Ethiopian athletes at Boston was that their performances at Boston would help secure them a place on their country's marathon team for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Their performances as winners should give them some edge, but with the London Marathon happening the week after - and with London's emphasis on times - we wonder if the slow times at Boston will mitigate any advantage the win and runner-up finish might provide for Baysa or Tsegaye.
Top Finishers:
1. Atsede Baysa (ETH) 2:29:19 - $150,000
2. Tirfi Tsegaye (ETH) 2:30:03 - $75,000
3. Joyce Chepkirui (KEN) 2:30:50 - $40,000
4. Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) 2:32:28 - $25,000
5. Valentine Kipketer (KEN) 2:33:13 - $15,000
6. Flomena Cheyech Daniel (KEN) 2:33:40 - $12,000
7. Buzunesh Deba (ETH) 2:33:56 - $9,000
8. Fate Tola (ETH) 2:34:38 - $7,400
9. Neely Spence Gracey (USA) 2:35:00 - $5,700
10. Mamitu Daska (ETH) 2:37:31 - $4,200
11. Sarah Crouch (USA) 2:37:36 - $2,600
12. Miharu Shimokado (JPN) 2:39:21 - $2,100
13. Amane Beriso (ETH) 2:39:38 - $1,800
14. Tiki Gelana (ETH) 2:42:38 - $1,700
15. Tadelech Bekele (ETH) 2:44:20 - $1,500
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