By the 23-mile mark, the ladies’s marathon was nonetheless anybody’s race, as 5 runners jockeyed for place down the ultimate stretch. They had been so shut that Ababel Yeshaneh fell after clipping one other runner’s foot.
Hellen Obiri, a 33-year-old Kenyan, led that group for a lot of the means, usually checking round to see the place her opponents had been. She briefly fell behind the pack at factors, however finally held the group off to win the ladies’s race in 2 hours 21 minutes and 38 seconds.
Obiri, who was competing in simply her second marathon, confirmed her pace with a few half-mile left within the race, pumping her arms exhausting and leaving the remainder of the group behind her. Obiri completed sixth within the New York Metropolis Marathon final 12 months, her solely different race of this distance. She received the New York Metropolis Half Marathon on March 19.
After that race, Obiri moved to Boulder, Colo., along with her husband, Tom Nyaundi, and their 7-year-old daughter, Tania, to coach. Obiri mentioned she was anxious about racing in Boston, uncertain how she would match up with the proficient area.
“It’s a shock to me,” Obiri mentioned with a smile, her daughter standing subsequent to her. Obiri mentioned her daughter motivates her, and sometimes peppers her with questions like, “You may’t be primary?”
“So I attempt to make them blissful,” Obiri mentioned, “as a result of generally I don’t need to go, however one thing tells you to attempt to carry on combating. So I stored on combating.”
Amane Beriso of Ethiopia completed second, and Lonah Salpeter of Israel completed third.
Yeshaneh, who completed second on this race final 12 months, recovered from her fall and at moments seemed as if she may win, however she pale away on the finish, ending fourth.
American Emma Bates, who was part of the group at Mile 23, couldn’t maintain the tempo on the finish of the race, ending in fifth place.