Patriots Day began in Boston this year with bouts of rain, cloudy skies and a cold breeze — yet Lawrence Cherono and Worknesh Degefa powered through, racing from Hopkinton to Copley Square to win the men’s and women’s races of the 123rd Boston Marathon, respectively.
Cherono, of Kenya, clocked in a time of 2:07:57, narrowly defeating Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa (2:07:59) by a matter of seconds. Degefa, also of Ethiopia, won the women’s division more comfortably, clocking in a time of 2:23:31 — 42 seconds ahead of second place.
After the race and trophy presentation, Cherono said in a television interview he was especially focused ahead of the Boston Marathon, one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.
“I was so focused because I’ve never won a major marathon,” Cherono said in the interview. “I was so determined to win.”
Cherono, 30, has a couple of marathon wins under his belt in Seville, Prague, Honolulu and twice in Amsterdam. Boston is Cherono’s first victory that is part of the World Marathon Majors.
“I’m so happy,” Cherono said. “I’m so grateful. I’m so thankful for the people of Boston.”
Degefa, 28, finished almost a minute before second-place finisher Edna Kiplagat of Kenya (02:24:13) and three and a half minutes over the 2018 champion Des Linden (2:27:00), who came in fifth place. For the last 20 miles of the race, Degefa separated from the pack in the lead.
“I’m happy that I won, plus I ran by myself, so I feel double winning,” Degefa told WBZ-TV through a translator.
Degefa has won other endurance races in the past, including the Yangzhou Jianzhen International Half Marathon in 2013, the Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon in 2015 and the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in 2016.
Degefa reflected on her experience running many races.
“I have run so many races,” Degefa told WBZ-TV through a translator. “This is the biggest I’ve seen, big crowd. So I felt I ran with all the crowd.”
As these top racers finished, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh congratulated the winners on Twitter.
In addition to these two winners, two winners were also crowned for the wheelchair divisions of the marathon.
Daniel Romanchuk, 20, became the first American since 1993 to win the Boston Marathon men’s wheelchair division. On the women’s end, Manuela Schar won the women’s wheelchair race with a time of 1:34:19.
The Boston Athletic Association called Romanchuk “one of the fastest rising stars in wheelchair racing” prior to the race. The Maryland native finished third last year in Boston, but this year he took home the top prize with a time of 1:21:36.
Romanchuk said he knew he would be able to finish the race as long as everything went well for him.
“I knew it was possible, it’s a matter of just everything coming together,” Romanchuk said in a post-race interview on TV. “Glory to God for the opportunity to race today.”
Schar, of Switzerland, currently holds the world record of 1:28:17, which she broke in the 2017 Boston Marathon. Schar reflected on how the conditions looked bad prior to the race but became better as the race went on.
“I was just really happy that the weather turned out to be actually really nice,” Schar said. “When we drove to that starting line, it looked really, really bad, and I was worried because last year was still in our heads, and I had a really bad experience last year. Today I would say [was] unfinished business.”
