FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Des Linden Earns an American Victory at 122nd Boston Marathon
By Barbara Huebner
In 2007, Des Linden made her 26.2-mile debut at the Boston Marathon. In
2008, she competed in her first U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials here, certain
that she would make the team; an infuriating late-race fade sealed her
determination to master the distance. In 2011, she briefly led down
Boylston Street, coming within an agonizing two seconds of becoming the
first American woman to win the Boston Marathon since 1985.
Boston is to Des Linden what oxygen is to the rest of us: It keeps her
alive.
And now it has entered her into the ledger of its 122-year history not only
as a champion but as the first American woman to win here in 33 years,
since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach in 1985.
"It means everything," she said. "This race is a marathon. It's not a
26.2-mile road race; it's where marathoners come to do their stuff. To win
on this course and to have it be significant for American marathoning means
everything."
Linden's winning time of 2:39:54 – the slowest in 40 years – reflected the
conditions: 38 degrees Fahrenheit at the start, with fierce rain squalls
all morning, making for some of the worst conditions in race history.
"It was brutal," said the two-time Olympian. It also led to results as
topsy-turvy as the flailing umbrellas along the course. Finishing second
was Sarah Sellers, 26, a full-time nurse anesthetist from Tucson, Ariz.,
while Krista Duchene, a 41-year-old mother of three and Canadian Olympian,
was third overall and top masters. Among the superstars they vanquished
were defending champion and two-time World Champion Edna Kiplagat, who
finished eighth.
The early miles of the race played out as expected, with the top contenders
crawling in a tight pack as they fought the elements and going through 5K
in 19:18 – compared to 17:44 last year. Ethiopians Aselefech Mergia, Mamitu
Daska and Buzunesh Deba, the course record-holder, all threw in a few
surges and didn't seem to mind leading or running to the side, apart from
the pack, but none got away until Shalane Flanagan needed a porta-potty
stop just past mile 12.
Flash back to a conversation at the 10K point: Linden confessed to Flanagan
that she was feeling horrible and would probably drop out, offering to
block the wind for Flanagan until calling it a day. When Flanagan veered
off the course, the pack shattered and Daska took off. At first, Linden
slowed to wait for Flanagan, but when she saw Daska's break she decided to
first help American Molly Huddle catch up before slowing again to escort
Flanagan back to the pack.
"By then I was in third or fourth and I couldn't drop out," said Linden,
prompting laughter at the post-race press conference.
The 36-year-old Flanagan, who grew up in nearby Marblehead, MA and last
fall became the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon in
40 years, had said before the race that this would be her last Boston
Marathon. After finishing seventh she seemed to waver, unsure if she wanted
to go out after a race in which she was so delirious from the cold that at
one point she thought she might be in the lead despite being well back.
She was sure, however, about Linden's sportsmanship.
"I'm really happy for Des," she said. "She just seemed like she was going
to be the sacrificial lamb, doing whatever she could to help … then I just
saw her keep going. I think that momentum of just helping someone else, not
investing so much in how she's feeling maybe gave her that little lift she
needed."
Daska, meanwhile, was apparently confident coming off an impressive
third-place finish last fall in the TCS New York City Marathon. Although
she was reeled in and part of a pack of nine women who went through the
halfway mark in 1:19:41, the Ethiopian surged again, defying the headwind,
and led by almost 30 seconds by Mile 14. Coming into Newton Lower Falls,
Linden, Kiplagat and Kenyan Gladys Chesir began to chase, slowly reeling
her in; by Mile 21, Daska was looking confused after struggling with the
simple task of taking off her gloves and pushing up her sleeves and was
caught first by Chesir and then by Linden. Head held high and arms pumping,
Linden churned inexorably toward Boylston to chants of USA, USA!
"This is storybook stuff," she said later. "I got into the sport because of
the Boston Marathon."
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