Boston Marathon: Past Champions Return To Defend
By David Hanenburg on 02 Apr 2009 at 8:19 am | Tagged as: marathon
With less than three weeks to go till the 2009 Boston marathon I thought I would share some information that I found concerning the returning champions, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot and Dire Tune.
Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot
Kenyan Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot practically owns the Boston marathon over the last few years and currently holds the course record (2:07:14 in 2006 – avg 4:51 per mile). He has won Boston in 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Cheruiyot also won the Chicago marathon in 2006 and had an extremely dangerous fall while crossing the finish line.
Here are a couple interesting articles/interviews of the humble marathon champion:
- Robert’s journey to elite running(www.time-to-run.com)
- Up Close and Personal with Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot(www.marathonguide.com: 2007)
It is really interesting to see how top athletes in many sports come from less than ideal upbringings.
I had to smile when Cheruiyot mentions after his 6 months of racing in Italy and coming home with over $7500, “This was now the beginning of my good life as I returned home and bought a five-acre piece of land and six cows.“. I find this such an interesting action as compared to what you might hear from someone living in the U.S..
Here is a short highlight video from last years Boston marathon: Cheruiyot Wins 4th Boston Marathon
My favorite part of the entire video was the announcer saying, “part of that 4:52 (mile split) was uphill”. Crazy fast!
Dire Tune
Ethiopian Dire Tune won the 2008 Boston marathon in 2:25:25 (avg 5:32 per mile). The woman’s course record for Boston is 2:20:43 (2002 – avg 5:22 per mile). Tune also holds the One Hour woman’s running world record with a distance of 18.517 km (11.50 miles, avg 5:12 per mile) in 2008. Only 23 years old, Tune is just starting her long course journey so she has many solid years ahead of her.
Watch this video of Tune winning last year’s Boston marathon. You will enjoy it. Dramatic!
I didn’t know you could have mutiple gears at the end of a marathon. Impressive!
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About the author
David Hanenburg is the passionate dirt-lovin' creator of Endurance Buzz and has been playing in the endurance sports world since 2000 after knockin' the dust off of his Trek 950 hardtail thanks to a friend asking to go ride some local dirt. In 2007 he ran his first ultra on the trails and fell in love with the sport and its people. For more information on David's endurance sports journey, check out the About page.
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