African Dominance Continues With Commanding Victories

The winner said it best.

“Everybody in the world is trying to catch the Kenyans, but they can’t,” said Joseph Chebet, who should know. He became the ninth consecutive Kenyan champion at the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Chebet, a runner-up in his previous three marathons, won in 2 hours 9 minutes 52 seconds.

That equaled the race record set by U.S. runners between 1916-25, a time when few foreigners entered the race. There was no individual competition in 1918, only a team race.

For the women, Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba has piled up a formidable Boston streak of her own, winning her third in a row.

The smooth-gliding 1996 Olympic gold medalist eased to victory at 2:23:25, matching the three consecutive titles won by Germany’s Uta Pippig from 1994-96. They are the only two to win three in a row since women officially became part of the race in 1972.

While Chebet and Roba overwhelmed their opposition, two crowd favorites--defending champion Moses Tanui of Kenya and four-time champion Bill Rodgers--did not finish.

Tanui, the champion in the race’s centennial year in 1996, apparently was bothered by leg cramps and dropped out near the 23-mile mark. Rodgers, seeking to break the course record for over-50 by an American, dropped out shortly before the 21-mile mark because of dehydration.

“I can run the race,” the 51-year-old Rodgers said, “but I can’t push hard for records. I have to run more carefully, then I’ll finish.”

Another popular New Englander, Lynn Jennings, was 12th among the women in her first official marathon at 2:38:37.

Jennings, 38, had run the marathon as an unofficial competitor in 1978 when she was a 17-year-old high school senior and ran about 2:46, a time that would have placed her third.

“It was a rough go,” Jennings said. “It’s slower than I thought, but I’m glad I qualified for the Olympic trials.”

For Chebet, whose previous two losses were by three seconds each, this was his third victory. He won the first two marathons he entered, at Amsterdam in 1996 and at Turin, Italy, in 1997.

After his heartbreaking losses last year, Chebet said he had to train harder to win again, and this time he began preparing about two months ahead of his previous schedule.

The dogged Chebet took the lead for good just past 22 miles from Ecuador’s Silvio Guerra.

Guerra, seeking to become the first South American winner since Colombia’s Elviro Mejia in 1971, built his lead between miles 17 and 22 to as much as a quarter-mile before he began laboring.

“To win a race, you have to take a risk, so I took the lead,” Guerra said. “I started to push hard, but after 20 miles, I started to get blisters on my feet and slowed down. I didn’t know how hard it would be in the end.

“I was ready for this race. I had been training in Boulder [Colo.] for six months.”

Guerra held on to finish second at 2:10:18 and was followed by two South Africans--Frank Pooe at 2:11:37 and Abner Chipu at 2:12:45. Kenya’s John Kagwe, who beat Chebet at New York in 1997 and 1998, wound up fifth for the second consecutive year at 2:13:57.

Roba ran the final miles with a headband given to her by fans along the course. The large Ethiopian community in the Boston area have given Roba great support.

“They gave me a big boost,” she said.

Roba was followed by 1997 New York City champion Franziska Rochat-Moser of Switzerland at 2:25:51, two-time Olympic medalist Yuko Arimori of Japan at 2:26:39 and South African Colleen de Reuck at 2:27:53.

The wheelchair champions each won for the third consecutive year, with Franz Nietlispach of Switzerland taking the men’s title at 1:21:36 and Louise Savage of Australia edging seven-time winner Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., for the women’s crown, with both timed at 1:42:23.

It was the 103rd running of the race, held annually on Patriot’s Day, and it drew a field of 12,797, the second-largest in history.

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Top Finishers

The top finishers in Monday’s Boston Marathon:

MEN

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No. Runner Country Time 1. Joseph Chebet Kenya 2:09:52 2. Silvio Guerra Ecuador 2:10:18 3. Frank Pooe South Africa 2:11:37

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****

WOMEN

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No. Runner Country Time 1. Fatuma Roba Ethiopia 2:23:25 2. Franziska Rochat-Moser Switzerland 2:25:51 3. Yuko Arimori Japan 2:26:39

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* MORE RESULTS, D8