U.S. Presence at Marathon Rising

It doesn’t bother Bill Rodgers that no American runner has won the Boston Marathon in 20 years. What bothers him is that so few of the best ones try.

So the four-time Boston champion is excited to see Olympian Alan Culpepper and 2003 U.S. marathon champion Ryan Shay heading to Hopkinton, Mass., with a chance for the first American top-five finish since 1987.

“They’ve made the race so much more dramatic by stepping forward,” Rodgers said. “I would like to see more.”

It has been a long time since Americans have been mentioned among the great marathoners, but that is changing. Meb Keflezighi won the silver medal at the Athens Olympics, and Deena Kastor won bronze in the women’s race. Khalid Khannouchi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is a former world record-holder.

None of them has run Boston, which is more difficult and less lucrative than some of the newer races. But “Boston Billy” thinks that they are undervaluing the prestige of the world’s oldest annual marathon, which lines up for the 109th time today.

“You can’t buy history,” Rodgers said. “If you don’t do a course with hills -- and this is the ultimate course with hills -- you aren’t a true marathoner.”

Rodgers’ four Boston victories from 1975 to 1980 represented the end of an era in which Americans won regularly, a door that slammed shut with Greg Meyer’s victory in 1983. Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach won the women’s race 20 years ago.

Just once in the last decade has an American man finished better than 10th. Marla Runyan’s fifth-place finish two years ago was the best for a U.S. woman since 1993.

Meanwhile, a Kenyan man has won 13 of the last 14 Boston Marathons. Catherine Ndereba gave Kenya a sweep last year with her third victory -- a fourth would be a women’s record.

“The U.S. has just had a long lag time,” Culpepper said. “I think we’re coming back.”

The two Olympic marathon medals could be a sign that Americans are ready to challenge in Boston.

Everyone agrees that an American’s crossing the finish line first would boost interest in the distance here.

But Amby Burfoot, who won the 1968 race and is the executive director of Runner’s World magazine, is happy just to see more of them in Hopkinton.

“None of us wants to be overly parochial,” he said, “but it is the Boston Marathon, and it has a very long tradition of the top Americans running here.”

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Facts

* What: 109th Boston Marathon.

* When: Today, 9 a.m. PDT.

* TV coverage: 8:30 a.m., Outdoor Life Network (reshown at 5 and 8 p.m.)

* Elite division: Includes 31 runners from 12 countries.

* Last year: Men, Kenya’s Timothy Cherigat finished first in 2 hours 10 minutes 37 seconds and won $80,000. He was followed by countryman Robert Cheboror (2:11.49). Women, Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba finished in 2:24:27 followed by Ethiopia’s Elfenesh Alemu (2:24:43).

* Notable withdrawal: Cheboror will not compete today because of visa problems.