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Boston - Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot of Kenya won the 114th Boston Marathon and broke the course record with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 52 seconds on Monday.
Ethiopia's Teyba Erkesso took the women's title, sprinting to the tape to win by three seconds in the third-closest women's finish in event history.
Cheruiyot was 82 seconds faster than the course record set in 2006 by four-time winner Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, who's not related.
The 2010 champions each earned $150,000 and a golden olive wreath from the city of Marathon, Greece; Cheruiyot gets an extra $25 000 for the course record.
Cheruiyot finished 91 seconds ahead of Tekeste Kebede of Ethiopia, with defending champion Deriba Merga of Ethiopia in third and Americans Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi rounding out the top five. It's the first time two Americans have finished in the top five since '06; no American has won the men's race since 1983.
More than 26 000 runners left Hopkinton early on Monday with temperatures below 10 C and a headwind of 21 km/h. The air warmed slightly during the day - good running weather.
"I tried to show my talent," said Cheruiyot, who gave Kenya its 18th men's victory in 20 years.
This year, the men's race was decided in the Newton Hills.
Merga surged ahead at the firehouse that marks the start of Heartbreak Hill, drawing Cheruiyot along with him while the rest of a lead pack of about a dozen fell behind. Among them was Abderrahim Gourmi, who had the fastest personal best in the field, and Keflezighi, the reigning New York City Marathon champion.
The two leaders ran the mile (kilometer and a half) that includes Heartbreak Hill in a split of 4:37.
Merga and Cheruiyot ran shoulder-to-shoulder through parts of Newton and into Brookline. The Kenyan inched ahead at Coolidge Corner with about 4km left and pulled away.
Erkesso opened a lead of more than 90 seconds and held on, grabbing her side at one point as she slowed. Russia's Tatyana Pushkareva smiled and waved at the TV cameras as she closed the gap, but she could not quite catch Erkesso on Boylston Street.
Erkesso won in 2:26:11. Defending champion Salina Kosgei of Kenya was third.
Provisional results of the Boston Marathon:
Men
1. Robert Cheruiyot (Kenya) 2hrs 05mins 52secs 2. Tekeste Kebede (Ethiopia) 2:07:23 3. Deriba Merga (Ethiopia) 2:08:39 4. Ryan Hall (U.S.) 2:08:41 5. Meb Keflezighi (U.S.) 2:09:26 6. Gashaw Asfaw (Ethiopia) 2:10:53 7. John Komen (Kenya) 2:11:48 8. Moses Kigen (Kenya) 2:12:04 9. Jason Lehmkuhle (U.S.) 2:12:24 10. Alejandro Suarez (Mexico) 2:12:33
Women
1. Teyba Erkesso (Ethiopia) 2hrs 26mins 11secs 2. Tatyana Pushkareva (Russia) 2:26:14 3. Salina Kosgei (Kenya) 2:28:35 4. Waynishet Girma Tafa (Ethiopia) 2:28:36 5. Bruna Genovese (Italy) 2:29:12 6. Lidiya Grigoryeva (Russia) 2:30:31 7. Yurika Nakamura (Japan) 2:30:40 8. Sun Weiwei (China) 2:31:14 9. Nailya Yulamanova (Russia) 2:31:48 10. Albina Ivanova (Russia) 2:31:55
