On a day when the world’s greatest marathoner was to be celebrated over the oldest and most prestigious 26.2 mile race in history, it was Evans Chebet who broke the tape first on Boylston Street.
The savvy Kenyan made his final push with a mile to go, pulling away from Tanzanian Gabriel Geay to successfully defend his title in the rain and chill with a time of 2:05:54 in the 127th running of the Boston Marathon.
Chebet became the sixth runner in history to capture back-to-back wins as he averaged a 4:49 per mile pace in wet, chilly conditions. Chebet’s victory came on the heels of his New York City Marathon win last November.
“I’m happy because I know this race because I won it last year and this year,” said Chebet. “So maybe next year I’ll come back and win it, too. Last year I ran 2:06 and this year I ran 2:05, so I’m happy.”
Geay held on for second in 2:06:04 and Kenyan Benson Kipruto, Chebet’s teammate, was third in 2:06:06. Matthew McDonald was the top BAA finisher with his 10th-place showing in 2:10:17.
A field of 30,239 answered the gun in Hopkinton. There were runners from 106 countries and all 50 states were represented for the prestigious race that winds it way through Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline and Brighton to the finish line on Boylston Street.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge came into his Boston debut as an overwhelming favorite and looked strong for 16 miles. Kipchoge, though, began to lose ground when Geay put in a surge shortly after. Kipchoge, who has now won 15 of the 18 marathons he has run, joined Frank Shorter, Abebe Bikilia and Mamo Wolde as Olympic gold medalists who haven’t won Boston.
Top American Scott Faulbe ran in the second pack before switching gears and moving up to finish a strong seventh for the third year in a row in 2:09:44. Fauble was more than a minute behind the leaders at the halfway point (1:03:59) before moving up and breaking into the top 10.
“I’ve tried to make good decisions and close really hard and it’s wound up being seventh,” said Fauble, who resides in Flagstaff, Ariz. “I would have loved to gone out with that pack but it was too fast. Most of them blew up and I knew it would be a bad decision. I almost caught Kipchoge. I can’t go out in 62 minutes. I would love to be able to and that’s how you get the win. For me it was having the faith that I could run people down. I know what I can’t do and going out in 62 minutes is over my head.”
The lead pack of 20 was out fast with Geay and Kipchoge fronting the group through the first 5K in 14:17. American’s Conner Mantz and CJ Albertson, who finished 12th in 2:10:33, were among the leaders, with Mantz leading for a short time at eight miles alongside Kipchoge.
Albertson moved around in the pack and was at the front at 20K (59:01) in Wellesley. Mantz lost contact with the pack on the 4:23 downhill mile coming out of Wellesley.
“It was pretty special,” said Mantz, who hung on for 11th in 2:10:25. “I heard a lot of USA, USA. Every race is different. If I paced it a little more even I could have had a better day.”
The field was down to seven going over the Route 128 hill in Newton as it began to rain harder. Kipchoge, who owns the world record in 2:01:09 and is the only man in history to run under two hours (1:59:40.2), began to fall back when Geay and John Korir (ninth, 2:10:04) surged just past 30K.
Evans looked stronger as the leaders crested Heartbreak Hill and stayed close when Kipruto threw in a 4:45 mile on Beacon Street. Geay moved up and ran alongside Chebet in Kenmore Square before the defending champion took the lead for good with a surge at 25 miles.
Chebet said he was more concerned about winning the race than beating Kipchoge.
“As you may have observed, for me the desire was to defend my title,” he said. “For me, I was doing my best to defend my title, so that was what you saw. Eliud was not so much of a threat because the bottom line was that we trained well. Our confidence in the quality of our training made us feel good about taking on this race.”