Two Ethiopian runners were crowned champions of the 2016 Boston Marathon on Monday. With approximately 30,000 participants — the third largest number in the marathon’s history — running the 26.2-mile route on a sunny spring morning, there were many more winners this Patriots’ Day.
Lemi Berhanu Hayle took home first place on the men’s side, besting defending champion Lelisa Desisa, also from Ethiopia, with a time of 2:12:45. Having gone toe-to-toe with the 21-year-old Hayle throughout the day, Desisa finished in a modest second with a time of 2:13:32. A third Ethiopian runner, Yemane Tsegay, came in third for the men.
This was also the first time since 1986 that a Massachusetts native finished in the men’s top 10, according to the Boston Herald. Zachary Hine, a 28-year-old South Hadley native who currently resides in Dallas, finished with a time of 2:21:37, putting him in 10th place.
On the women’s side, Atsede Baysa won her first title after trailing and then making a furious comeback at mile marker 23, according to the Bleacher Report. The 29-year-old runner then took the lead and clocked in with a time of 2:29:19. She was followed by Tirfi Tsegaye of Ethiopia and Joyce Chepkirui of Kenya.
The first winner of the marathon, Marcel Hug of the men’s wheelchair division, emerged victorious in dramatic fashion. Hug, a native of Switzerland, held off 10-time champion Ernst Van Dyk and Kurt Fearnley in a classic finish, coming in about a chair’s length ahead of the other two at 1:24:06.
American participant Tatyana McFadden won the women’s wheelchair division for the fourth straight time, according to Boston.com, coming in at 1:42:16. She was seen celebrating with the family of Martin Richard, the youngest fatality in the 2013 marathon bombing, after the race.
The beauty of Marathon Monday extended well beyond the route from Hopkinton to Boylston Street, though. Another key component of Patriots’ Day is the Boston Red Sox game that occurs just moments from the finish line at Fenway Park.
In this year’s installment, the Red Sox dropped their series finale to the Toronto Blue Jays by a score of 4-3. What was shaping up to be a fine day of baseball at the ballpark turned sour for the Sox in the eighth inning when the bullpen imploded following Clay Buchholz’ stellar outing.
The Red Sox are now 6-6 and in the eyes of some could be underperforming, but passion was evident by all on this special day for Boston.
Nick Neville is a junior in COM studying journalism and the Sports Editor of the Daily Free Press. When he's not making a paper on Beacon Street, you can catch him working as a Sports Correspondent for the Boston Globe or helping to produce BU's only professional sports talk show, Offsides. Follow him on Twitter: @n_nebs95
