|
The 122nd Running of the Boston Marathon - The Men's Race
by John Elliott
Weather and Ignoring It
Weather was the story for the 2018 Boston Marathon Men's Race. And the story was also of one man's disregard for caution and the weather.
The Weather
Let's face it... annually the Boston Marathon story is about the weather. The tailwind of 2011 leading to a 2:03:02 world-best finish. More often than a tailwind, it's a headwind. The heat in various years forces everyone to slow down. There is an occasional Nor'Easter. But for 2018, it was the worst of all: a Nor'Easter with torential downpours, huge headwind, outrageous temperatures - for 2018, cold enough to have hail on parts of the course...
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Yuki Kawauchi Running Far Ahead of All Others at Start of Race
|
Ignoring the weather
The women's pro race started 28 minutes ahead of the men's race, as it always does. And while the women started slowly, the men started on a tear. And it was, in particular, one man who pushed the pace - ignoring the weather. From the beginning of the 2018 Boston Marathon, one man: Yuki Kawauchi ran to the front and began to push the pace. It was our assumption - wrongly - that Kawauchi was just looking for some televsion exposure. That happens from time to time as a B-Level athlete runs out to the front to get television exposure for himself or his sponsors.
It's all about the Africans and occassionally the Americans... Or is it?
We didn't know - as foolish as we were - that Kawauchi was legit. Americans are used to seeing East African runners dominate our races and also to see the occasional American defy the odds and rise to the top. We aren't used to Asian runners coming to the USA - and when they do, we tend to disregard them. Kawauchi was certainly not the fastest runner in the field, but his strength and consistency was unbelievable. Since his first marathon in 2009, Kawauchi had run nearly 80 marathons. That might suggest that Kawauchi was slow, but nearly 40 of those finishes were run at 2:12 or better and in 2017 alone, Kawauchi had run faster than 2:11 five times in his 12 marathons that year. Honestly, we wonder how Kawauchi was allowed in the field... We know that many of the major marathons, including Boston, require their athletes to promise not to run another marathon in the few months leading up to their race so they will come to the race fresh - but Kawauchi came to Boston having already run three marathons in 2018...
Defending Champion Kirui Leads
Kawauchi held the lead of the pack, but then fell behind it after 10K into the course as the race settled into what we might expect. With the weather, the lead pack - rather than shrinking as we'd usually expect - grew from mile 6 to mile 15 as the pace slowed and held at a rate that many of the field could handle even with the win.
But at mile 18, just as he did in 2017, defending champion Geoffrey Kirui took off and started to dust the rest of the pack. In the following three miles, Kirui built his lead to more than 1-1/2 minutes - he did seem unstoppable. The rest of the pack was also breaking up as only three men: Abdi Nageeye, Shadrack Biwott and Yuki Kawauchi were able to give any chase. And then it was just two men giving chase: Biwott and Kawauchi seemed destined for second and third places.
The Wall...
The wall is something that ordinary marathoners fear. It's that point somewhere between miles 20 and 23 when the body runs out of fuel, particularly if one is not fully trained and prepared. The professional runners might slow a bit at the end of a race, but their preparation lets them handle the 26.2 mile distance of a marathon. But not on April 16, 2018 - when the conditions and weather probably made the 26.2 mile course feel more like 29 or 30 miles. The race would take more preparation and favor the most strong competitor.
With three miles to go and with a lead of more than 1-1/2 minutes, Geoffrey Kirui started looking behind - always a bad sign - and was starting to slow. Yuki Kawauchi, a man who could run a dozen fast marathons in a year, was clearly the strongest in the field and while others slowed, he continued on at full pace, ultimately turning a 1-1/2 minute deficit into a 2-1/2 minute lead over the last three miles of the course. Yes, it was pretty unbelievable.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun
Kawauchi Celebrates After Winning Boston Marathon
|
According to Yuki, No One Would Expect This - He Didn't Even Know....
After the race, Kawauchi said that he thought that before the race no one in America believed he could win the Boston Marathon. As he approached the finish line, Kawauchi himself didn't even know he was winning the race. He told us that he remembered that in the pre-race meeting for the professional athletes that organizers told the runners that if they were the winner, course marshals would point him to the right side of the course toward the finish line and other runners would finish on the left. As he approached the finish, the course marshals pointed Kawauchi toward the right - and it was then that he knew he was going to be the winner.
Americans Behind / Shadrack Biwott / Hansons-Brooks
Those of us at MarathonGuide.com are also just fans of the sport and hopeful that America can create heroes to encourage others in our country to get out and run. We also know many of the runners as people and also sponsor some. The American Marathon landscape is also changing with eternal faovrite and good-guy Meb Keflezighi now retired, America needs to find some new heroes. Albeit, with the weather the day was difficult and not typical of any other running day, we were encouraged to see some of the American runners pushing hard to complete the marathon and not drop out. The American favorite, Galen Rupp, dropped out; but behind the leaders, Shadrack Biwott and Tyler Pennel showed their strength.
We'll do a shout-out to Shadrack Biwott who finished in third place ahead of any other American on the day. Biwott showed his toughness and followed up on his fourth place finish from the 2017 Boston Marathon, fifth place finish at the 2016 New York City Marathon and top ten finish at the 2017 New York City Marathon. In each of those last four marathons, Biwott was the second American (behind Galen Rupp in two of the race and behind Abdi Abdirahman in two). Biwott also won the USATF Series award in 2013 by finishing first, second or third in nearly every one of the USATF Championships that year. With these results and with his recent move to join and be coached by the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, we can see Biwott emerging as a true future American hero.
Top Finishers:
1. Yuki Kawauchi (JPN) 2:15:58 - $150,000
2. Geoffrey Kirui (KEN) 2:18:23 - $75,000
3. Shadrack Biwott (USA) 2:18:35 - $40,000
4. Tyler Pennel (USA) 2:18:57 - $25,000
5. Andrew Bumbalough (USA) 2:19:52 - $15,000
6. Scott Smith (USA) 2:21:47 - $12,000
7. Abdi Nageeye (NED) 2:23:16 - $9,000
8. Elkanah Kibet (USA) 2:23:37 - $7,400
9. Reid Coolsaet (CAN) 2:25:02 - $5,700
10. Daniel Vassallo (USA) 2:27:50 - $4,200
11. Daniel Daly (CRO) 2:27:54 - $2,600
12. Matthew Herzig (USA) 2:27:55 - $2,100
13. Benjamin Zywicki (USA) 2:28:02 - $1,800
14. Stephen Sambu (KEN) 2:28:07 - $1,700
15. Abdi Abdirahman (USA) 2:28:18 - $1,500
|
