April 19: Kenyan runners, from left, James Koskei, Robert Cheruiyot, and David Mandago, wait for the start of the 114th running of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Mass. Cheruiyot won the race. (AP)
BOSTON (AP) -- Kenya's Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot won the 114th Boston Marathon on Monday, breaking the course record with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 52 seconds.
That was 82 seconds faster than the record set in 2006 by four-time winner Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, who's not related. The 2010 champion wins the $150,000 first prize and an extra $25,000 for setting the course record.
Cheruiyot finished 91 seconds ahead of Ethiopian Tekeste Kebede, with defending champion Deriba Merga in third and Americans Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi rounding out the top five. It's the first time two Americans have finished in the top five since '06; no American has won the men's race since Greg Meyer in 1983.
Hall, who finished third last year, fell out of the top 15 near the halfway point but sprinted through the final mile to challenge Merga for a spot on the podium. He missed by 2 seconds, but his time of 2:08:41 was the fastest ever for an American in Boston, six seconds faster than Bob Kempainen ran in 1994.
Ethiopia's Teyba Erkesso won the women's race in an unofficial time of 2:26:11, outsprinting Russia's Tatyana Pushkareva to win by three seconds in the third-closest women's finish in event history. Defending champion Salina Kosgei was third, and Paige Higgins of Arizona was the top American woman in 13th.
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