Ndeti’s Doubters Left in His Wake : Boston Marathon: Kenyan wins for the second time in as many tries, breaking the course record. Pippig wins the women’s title in record time.

A year ago, Cosmas Ndeti was a novice marathon runner and an aspiring entrepreneur. Now he’s a two-time winner of the Boston Marathon and a landlord.

Ndeti can buy more apartments in Kenya because he took the lead in the 22nd mile Monday, stretched it to 50 yards, then held on to win the 98th running of the event in 2 hours 7 minutes 15 seconds, the fastest marathon in six years, and fifth fastest ever. It was only 25 seconds off the world best of 2:06:50, set by Belayneh Densimo of Ethiopia at Rotterdam in 1988.

Running in ideal conditions, with temperatures in the 50s and a tail wind, Ndeti earned $25,000 for breaking Rob de Castella’s 1986 course record by 36 seconds and $70,000 when he finished four seconds faster than second-place Andres Espinosa of Mexico on a day of record times.

Women’s winner Uta Pippig of Berlin also earned $95,000, running 2:21:45 to break Joan Benoit Samuelson’s old Boston mark by 62 seconds.

The race was so fast that the first U.S. runner, Bob Kempainen, a medical student from Minneapolis, broke Alberto Salazar’s 12-year-old American record by five seconds in 2:08:47, yet finished seventh.

With appearance money, Ndeti earned more than $100,000, which he can put toward his real estate company, begun after winning at Boston last year in only his second marathon.

It was the fourth consecutive Boston men’s victory by a Kenyan, and fifth in seven years. It also refuted those who had said that last year’s victory was a fluke.

Last year, he was learning. This year, he had a three-day seminar in Portland, Ore., with ’82 Boston winner Salazar, who, along with now annual jogging partner President Clinton--they will run Wednesday morning in Washington--is Ndeti’s new pal.

“Alberto told me that if you aren’t running with the lead pack, run your own race,” Ndeti said.

But there was no lead pack for much of the race, so instead, he listened to his body, which told him to start pressing two miles earlier than he had in last year’s victory. So much for scientific running.

“I was more concerned with how I was feeling than with time,” said Ndeti, who, for the second consecutive year ran the second half of the race--generally considered the tougher because it includes the hills of Newton--faster than the first. “I was concentrating on feeling my body and how the other guys were running, not with the clock.”

With each pass in working his way up through the pack, Ndeti looked at his opponent, sized him up and decided if he was somebody to worry about later.

He generally wasn’t.

In the closing miles, only Espinosa was a threat, and Ndeti kept looking back.

“I couldn’t judge how tired he was getting because he was behind me,” Ndeti said.

Very tired, as it turned out.

“I thought I could catch him, but near the end, I realized I would be short,” said Espinosa, who also earned a $25,000 bonus for breaking the course record.

Jackson Kipngok of Kenya was third, 53 seconds behind the winner, and Barcelona Olympic gold medalist Hwang Young-Jo of Korea was fourth, in 2:08.09.

For Pippig, it was as easy as running 26 miles 385 yards can be. She ran in a group, frequently behind South Africa’s Colleen De Reuck, for half the race, took off in the hills, ran with track specialist and first-time marathoner Elana Meyer of South Africa on her shoulder until the 20th mile, then said goodby.

At the end, Pippig cried.

“I had been training hard, with Boston in mind, in Colorado and got to Boston five days before the race,” she said. “It was raining and I was running and I got sick. I was crying because of that, because I trained so hard.

“I stayed in bed, called a doctor and was told it was just a cold and it would go away. Today, it did.”

She felt so good that a world record was a possibility until reality set in.

“I thought the last three or four miles about the world record, but I slowed the last two miles because I was tired,” she said. “I trained to run 2:22, and I need one more year to get the world record.”

It’s 2:21.06.

Valentina Yegorova of Russia, the Olympic champion in Barcelona, was second in 2:23:33. Olga Markova, who was trying to win here for the third consecutive year, dropped out at 18 miles.

The 9,059-runner field was led through most of the first half by Keith Brantley of Ormond Beach, Fla., whose edge went to 200 yards at one point. He fell back and finished 20th.

The day belonged to Ndeti, who this year brought his family along, including his son, Gideon Boston Ndeti. Gideon celebrated his first birthday Sunday, and Cosmas had him in his arms seconds after Monday’s victory.

Marathon Notes

Heinz Frei of Switzerland, in 1:21:22, and Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., in 1:34:22, were the wheelchair winners, both setting race records. Frei’s time was also a world record. . . . Jim Knaub of Long Beach, who has won the wheelchair division five times, including the last three, finished 30th.