112th Boston Marathon is One for the Ages
Race available on-demand at WCSN.com for the next 12 months

E-mail this page  Printer-friendly page

Posted Monday, 28 April, 2008

From Jack Fleming, BAA

BOSTON - (April 25, 2008) - Twelve months after inclement weather threatened the 2007 Boston Marathon, Patriots' Day 2008 featured blue skies, mild temperatures, and record-breaking performances. Robert K. Cheruiyot and Ernst Van Dyk further established themselves as Boston legends, Dire Tune won possibly the most thrilling Boylston Street sprint the race has ever seen, and nearly 22,000 runners finished the second-largest Boston ever.

Fans can view the complete broadcast of the race free and on-demand at WCSN.com for the next 12 months thanks, in part, to the support of Official Race Sponsor adidas.

Among the many highlights of Monday's race:

• The totals of 25,283 entrants, 22,375 starters, and 21,963 finishers each rank as #2 all-time at Boston, trailing only the 100th running of the race in 1996.
• The total of 10,439 female entrants and 8,935 female finishers were both new Boston records.
• Robert K. Cheruiyot joined Clarence DeMar, Gerard Cote and Bill Rodgers as the only men to have won the Boston Marathon four times or more.
• Cheruiyot's winning time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, 46 seconds is the sixth fastest ever run on the course.
• Dire Tune (22 years old) became the youngest champion, male or female, since Joan Benoit (21 years old) in 1979.
• Tune's 2-second margin of victory over Alevtina Biktimarova is the closest finish in the history of Boston's women's division.
• Ernst Van Dyk's seventh victory in the men's push rim wheelchair division ties him with Clarence DeMar for most Boston Marathon titles for a man. They trail only Jean Driscoll, who won eight women's push rim wheelchair titles.
• The total prize purse of $796,000, funded by principal sponsor John Hancock, was a 38% increase from 2007. Both Cheruiyot and Tune received $150,000 for their victories.
• With his victory, Cheruiyot moves into second place, behind Martin Lel, in the 2007-08 World Marathon Majors Series which concludes in New York on November 2.
• Cheruiyot also became Boston's all-time career earnings leader, having won $469,000 in prize money and course record bonuses in Boston.
• Neil Weygandt completed his 42nd consecutive Boston Marathon, the longest active streak, and believed to be the longest in Boston history.
• There were 1,363,982 unique visitors to the Boston Marathon race day website (BostonMarathon.org) on Patriots' Day. Collectively, they viewed more than 10 million pages.
• 198,267 emails and text messages were issued through the AT&T Athlete Alert Program, notifying registrants of the progress of their friends and family along the course.

The 113th Boston Marathon is scheduled for Monday, April 20, 2009.

Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit organization with a mission of managing athletic events and promoting a healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running. The B.A.A.'s Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon, and the organization manages other local events and supports comprehensive charity, youth and year-round running programs. Since 1986, the principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon has been John Hancock Financial Services.

 E-mail this page
 Printer-friendly page