KORIR, LOKEDI WIN BOSTON MARATHON IN FAST TIMES

BOSTON (21-Apr) — Cool temperatures, brilliant sunshine and only light winds helped Kenyans John Korir and Sharon Lokedi win their first Boston Marathon titles here today in fast times.  Korir, 28, broke the race open with a powerful surge in the 20th mile and scampered to the finish line on Boylston Street alone in a quick 2:04:45.  Lokedi, 31, won a two-way battle with compatriot and two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri in the 26th mile and smashed the course record by more than two and a half minutes, clocking 2:17:22.  Both athletes won $150,000 in prize money, and Lokedi earned an additional $50,000 bonus for breaking the course record.

KORIR GOES FROM THE PAVEMENT TO THE PODIUM

Korir’s race got off to an awful start.  About 100 meters into the competition he was tripped from behind and fell, ripping off his bib number.

“I fell at the start,” Korir told reporters after the race.  “I said, ‘should I stay down or get up?’”

He regained his feet quickly, tucked his crumpled bib into his shorts, and was running in 12th place by the 5-kilometer checkpoint, just two seconds behind the leaders Conner Mantz and Clayton Young of the United States, Patrick Tiernan of Australia, Yemane Haileselassie of Eritrea, and Wesley Kiptoo of Kenya.  In all, about 21 men were running together.

Korir, following the plan set forth by his coaches, Ron Mann and Haron Lagat, and his brother, Wesley Korir (the 2012 Boston Marathon champion) Korir stayed “quiet,” just grinding out the miles within the pack.  The pace was more than honest.  Through 20 kilometers the men surpassed all of the checkpoint times recorded by Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai when he set the course record of 2:03:02 in 2011.

“I was surprised at how many people were in that pack (going so fast),” Mantz said at the post-race press conference.  “The pack was quite large through halfway, and it was quite large at the 18-mile mark, and I was a little concerned.”

Indeed, there were 16 men within two seconds of the halfway leader, Canada’s Rory Linkletter, including last year’s champion Sisay Lemma.  Like earlier in the race, Korir remained in the pack, waiting.

In the famously downhill 16th mile, the pack ran a blistering 4:32 split.  That was too much for…