Usually I wouldn’t consider marathons to be compelling sporting events, but the Boston Marathon always seems to provide some sort of excitement. The 2008 marathon will certainly go down as one to remember, at least for the women’s results. Ethiopian Dire Tune beat Russian Alevtina Biktimirova by a mere two seconds to take the title after a couple of lead changes as the runners entered Kenmore Square.
Over on the men’s side, Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot beat everyone else to the finish line for the fourth time in his career. He took just 2:07:46 to cover the entire distance, but was 32 seconds off the record-setting pace he established in 2006.
Cheruiyot and Tune will each receive $150,000 for their wins. Wow, I had no idea marathons paid so well!
And for those interested in Lance Armstrong’s Boston Marathon results, the former seven-time Tour de France champ finished the race in a respectable 2:50:58 — good for 496th place.