Catherine Ndereba Boston Winner 2004
Hot conditions was the order of the day for the running of Boston 2004.
The Women
The Women set-off 30 minutes ahead of the men. Ethiopian athlete, Elfenesh Alemu, was only too keen to make her presence felt at the front of the field, whereas Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, the Paris 2003 World Champion, was willing to sit back out of immediate contention in the early stages.
Such was Ndereba’s composure, that she was off the lead as much as 14 seconds. However, it is possible the warm conditions were a determining factor over a course which would punish the ‘foolhardy’ runners in the latter miles.
Elemu was closely tracked by Olivera Jevtic of Serbia and Montenegro, before Jetvic faded under the warm conditions, allowing the Kenyan to move into 2nd place. Ndereba was content to stalk her opponent from afar until the right moment. Once in Newton and the climb towards Heartbreak Hill approached she moved alongside for the first time.
Into the 21st mile and CN moved into the front, applying pressure from a leaders position. Utlising similar tactics witnessed in Paris, she began to make the most of her strength on the downhills to the good effect.
On the remaining uphills, Alemu would edge to the fore only for Ndereba to slide ahead on the ever so slight descents.
Catherine was not looking so Great, however she is indeed a gritty customer, as well as a former World Record holder over the distance, so she could never be discounted.
Going into the last mile, Ndereba again used the slight decent to edge ahead. On this occasion she bowled away from Alemu who was suddenly no longer there, she had put up a gallant effort and would be rewarded with 2nd, Ndereba went on to win quite comfortably, by 16 seconds, in the end. However, she may pay for this win come the Athens Olympic marathon later in the year. To say she was tired, would be a major understatement. Only time will tell whether she is able to recover from gruelling race of Monday the 19th April 2004.
The Men’s coverage follows.
The Men
The Men were set-off just under 30 minutes after the women and their scamper to Boston was led by a yellow vested man clad in a ‘speedo’ swim costume. Roll on summer, the weather was more a beach day than a day to pit yourself against 26.2 miles [42.2Km’s] of hot tarmac.
But duel they did. No! the ‘beefcake’ was no longer there after the first mile, so he was not going to be an unexpected winner on this occasion.
Once the lead pace began to settle, the 2 Roger Rabbit representatives bolted away to lead the field by a good 20 to 30 metres. By mile 10, the front 2 were engulfed by their pursuers. However, only 8 athletes were left upfront, the acceleration undoubted no matter how subtle it may have been.
Approaching Newton and mving towards Heartbreak Hill, there was plenty of activity upfront, with plenty of moving around amongst the group. What was going to be interesting was whether Martin Lel, winner in New York 2003, was going to cope with the hills.
[He didn’t, Berlin would almost certainly suit his style and speed ]
Rodgers Rop 2nd in Boston and New York in 2003, after capturing both titles in 2002, was looking his normal perky self on the undulating section. Within the space of a mile Rop and Timothy Cherigat, both of Kenya, had determined who would win the title, with Lel hanging on in 3rd. These 3 would be joined by Robert Cheboror, also of Kenya.
Rop realising the danger of the lurking Lel, having lost to him in New York in 2003, took up the pace to rid them of their compatriot, however Lel is not an easy customer to get rid of. And the attempts by Rop would lead to his own undoing eventually, leading to a DNF. With 1:30 on the clock there were still 4 athletes vying for the Boston title and it was not until Mile 20 that athlete No4, Cherigat, decided to determine the destiny of the wreath, when blasted away from the group in his familiar powerful but bouncy style.
This was the killer blow for Rop, which also led to the downfall of Lel. Rop had earlier been assisted by Cherigat to apply pressure to the group when it numbered 8, however on this occasion the little man with the distinct hand and arm action on top of bouncy legs, was doing it for himself.
Mile 23, is a long slight decent and if his opponents were to have any say in the destiny of the title, they would have had to be in contention by then. It was not to be. Cherigat romped to a deserved victory after being the main protagonist in the delivering of the measured punches before delivering the killer blow. A well fought victory and a deserved winner of Boston 2004.