Kenya's Mutai wins Boston in record 2:03:02

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: AP

Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai has won the Boston Marathon in an unofficial 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds — the fastest marathon ever run.

The previous best of 2:03:59 was by Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin 2008. Because of the differences in courses and wind conditions, there isn't an official world record in marathons.

Mutai's mark is almost three minutes better than the course record set just last year by Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot.

Caroline Kilel won the women's race, outsprinting American Desiree Davila to win in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 22 minutes, 36 seconds.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iykWGBIrMLqB3rAOMKxOsSMZipEg?docId=2fba417014ab4847991d4787b382b726

[BadgerKid]

1. Wow. Average speed just shy of 12.8 mph.

[bluedigger]

2. Very impressive!

Boston is not known as a fast course.

[Upton]

3. Too bad the record isn't going to count..

Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai won the Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds — the fastest anyone has ever run the 26.2 mile distance.

The previous best of 2:03:59 was by Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin 2008. Because Monday's race had a strong tailwind on a downhill course, Mutai's run is not recognized by track's international governing body as a record.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110418/ap_on_sp_ot/ath_boston_marathon

[GomezLives]

4. I want to see his birth certificate.

[bluedigger]

5. Recognized record or not, it was a hell of a race!

A stunner, by any measure

The time — nearly a minute faster than the recognized global best — seemed impossible. Did they start the clock late at Hopkinton? Was there a construction detour around the Newton hills? Did the winner hop on the trolley at Cleveland Circle? Did Rosie Ruiz lay out the course?

“When I was coming to Boston, I was not preparing to break a world record,’’ Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai said yesterday afternoon after he had run 26 miles and 385 yards faster than any man in history to win the 115th Boston Marathon in a shocking 2 hours 3 minutes 2 seconds. “I see it as a gift from God.’’

Mutai, the first man to run a world best here since Korea’s Yun Bok Suh in 1947, definitely got a helping hand from Aeolus, the Greek wind god who provided a 20-mile-per-hour westerly at his back. And Ryan Hall, whose 2:04:58 shattered the American record, pushed the pace all the way into the hills.

But once he came off Heartbreak, Mutai was on his own, and when countryman Moses Mosop caught up with him on the flats, it made for a footrace — and a time — for the ages. http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/articles/2011/04/19/a_stunner_by_any_measure/?page=1

Really exceptional story on the race. Great writing to go with some great running!
:thumbsup: