#BostonMarathon: Live tweets from the Boston Marathon
Meb Keflezighi wasn’t able to claim another Boston Marathon victory, but he still gave at least one runner a thrill on the course.
The defending champion broke into a sprint on Boylston Street even though the leaders had already finished. Just before the line, he grabbed a woman’s hand and crossed alongside her.
Hilary Dionne, of nearby Charlestown, said she heard the public address announcer say that last year’s winner was approaching. “At that point, I was just trying to get to the finish line, really,” she said.
The two hugged after finishing. Keflezighi was eighth, and Dionne was 15th in the women’s race.
“It was an amazing opportunity for us to finish together,” Keflezighi said. “Hopefully, it will be a memorable experience for both of us.”
2:20 p.m.:
There’s plenty of star power out on the Boston Marathon course.
“Orange is the New Black” star Uzo Aduba is halfway through her race to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Sean Astin, who starred as Sam in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, also is running his first Boston Marathon on Monday to raise cash for Team MR8, the charity foundation honoring 8-year-old Martin Richard. Martin was the youngest victim of the 2013 bombings.
Another well-known runner still out on the course: former Boston College star and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie. He’s running to benefit the foundation he set up to help improve the quality of life for people with autism.
1:05 p.m.:
Now that the elites have won, the focus of the Boston Marathon is on the other 30,000 runners braving a chilly rain and a cruel headwind en route to the finish.
A drizzle gave way to a downpour on Heartbreak Hill as runners crested the most difficult stage of the 26.2-mile course, cheered on by spectators huddled beneath umbrellas.
The cold and damp dealt an extra challenge to the field for Monday’s 119th running of America’s premier marathon.
Some athletes could be seen limping and clutching their hamstrings in pain as they approached the finish line on Boylston Street.
12:30 p.m.:
BOSTON (AP) — Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia has won the 119th Boston Marathon in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 17 seconds.
It’s his second victory here. He also won the 2013 race just hours before a pair of bombs exploded at the finish line. Desisa returned after the attacks to donate his medal to the city in memory of the victims.
Countryman Yemane Adhane Tsegay was second in 2:09:48, and Wilson Chebet of Kenya took third in 2:10:22. Dathan Ritzenhein was seventh overall and the first American in an unofficial 2:11:20, followed by last year’s winner, Meb Keflezighi, in 2:12:42.
Noon:
BOSTON (AP) — Caroline Rotich has won the women’s race at the Boston Marathon in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 24 minutes, 55 seconds.
It’s the first Boston victory for the 30-year-old Kenyan. She finished fourth here in 2011.
Rotich outsprinted Ethiopians Mare Dibaba (MAH-ree Di-BAA-bah) and Buzunesh Deba (BOO-zoo-nesh DEH-nah) down Boylston Street to win by four seconds. American Desiree Linden finished fourth.
Two years after a pair of bombs tore through crowds at the finish line, killing three and wounding 260 more, the world’s most prestigious marathon took a tentative step back toward normal.
11:35 a.m.:
The weather is damp but the atmosphere is electric for the 119th running of the Boston Marathon.
Along the route, well-wishers have drawn “Boston Strong” in chalk on the pavement. Spectators braving the wind and drizzle are lining the 26.2-mile course, banging cowbells and blowing air horns to support the runners as the elite women crest Heartbreak Hill.
The theme music from the “Rocky” movies has been playing and many on the sideline have been waving American flags.
One house on the course had a large banner hanging that read: “Believe in Boston.”
Uniformed National Guard troops have been mingling with the crowds to help secure Monday’s race.
11:15 a.m.:
American Tatyana McFadden has won her third straight women’s wheelchair race at the Boston Marathon.
McFadden rolled down Boylston Street to finish in an unofficial 1 hour, 52 minutes, 54 seconds.
McFadden wore a singlet in memory of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy who was killed in the 2013 finish line bombing.
McFadden, 25, is a four-time Paralympian and also the reigning champion of the Chicago, New York City and London marathons. She also finished second in the 1 kilometer Nordic skiing sprint in the 2014 Paralympics.
10:45 a.m.:
The fastest man in the Boston Marathon field, Kenya’s Patrick Makau, has dropped out.
Makau ended his race shortly after the 5-kilometer checkpoint. It wasn’t clear why he dropped out.
The Kenyan’s personal best of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 38 seconds made him one of the biggest threats to defending champion Meb Keflezighi’s hopes of repeating Monday.
Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the men’s wheelchair race.
It took him an unofficial 1:29:53 for his first Boston win. The 28-year-old finished fourth last year.
Hug deprived Ernst Van Dyk of his 11th Boston Marathon victory. He’s already the most decorated Boston competitor with 10 titles.
10 a.m.:
Defending champion Meb Keflezighi and the other elite men have started the Boston Marathon.
Keflezighi’s victory last year, the first after the deadly bombings, was the first by an American since 1983.
His fastest rival in Monday’s 119th edition of the race is Kenya’s Patrick Makau, whose personal best is 2 hours, 3 minutes, 38 seconds.
Lelisa Desisa, who won the 2013 Boston and then donated his winner’s medal to the city after the bombings near the finish, is one of four Ethiopians who have completed a marathon in under 2:05.
The 2012 winner, Wesley Korir, also is in the field.
Making his Boston debut is American Dathan Ritzenhein, who ran 2:07:47 in Chicago in 2012.
The first of three waves of 10,000 runners each went off with the elite men.
9:35 a.m.:
The elite women are off in the Boston Marathon, and Americans are pinning their hopes on Shalane Flanagan to break a 30-year drought for the olive wreath.
Flanagan was seventh last year and fourth in 2013. She was third in last year’s Berlin Marathon in a personal best of 2 hours, 21 minutes, 14 seconds.
American Desiree Linden also is a threat. Linden was 10th last year and missed winning in 2011 by two seconds.
Both face formidable competition Monday. The women’s field includes two former Boston champions — Sharon Cherop from 2012 and fellow Kenyan Caroline Kilel from 2011. Also running is last year’s runner-up, Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia.
The last U.S. women’s victory was by Lisa Weidenbach in 1985.
8:50 a.m.:
Rain has started falling at the Boston Marathon starting line, and forecasters warn that it will be a soggy race for the 30,000 runners and 1 million spectators.
David Parkinson of New York City is running his sixth consecutive Boston. The 29-year-old was sheltering under a tent, sitting on trash bags and swaddled in blankets to keep warm.
In a sign of enhanced security two years after terrorist bombings killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 others, runners and others were being scanned with a metal-detecting wand at the start in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
Monday’s 119th running of the Boston Marathon began with a special start for mobility-impaired participants. Push rim wheelchairs start at 9:17 a.m., and the elite women set off at 9:32 a.m. The elite men and the first of three waves of runners start at 10 a.m.
8:20 a.m.:
Boston Marathon runners are arriving at the athletes village in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and security is tight for the 119th running of the venerable race.
Police are patrolling the area with bomb-sniffing dogs. Authorities say more than 3,000 officers — uniformed and undercover — have been deployed for Monday’s marathon.
It’s the second edition since terrorist bombs killed three people and wounded more than 260 others at the finish line in 2013.
Among those waiting for the start of the 26.2-mile race was Jessica Colindres, a Guatemala native who lives in Massachusetts and was stopped less than a mile from the finish in 2013 when police closed the course.
She says her goal is a “happy, healthy and safe” race.
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