Africans Big Winners In Boston

Joseph Chebet, a runner-up no more, pulled away Monday with about four miles left and became the ninth straight Kenyan to win the Boston Marathon.

Chebet, who finished second to countryman Moses Tanui by three seconds in last year's race, also was runner-up in the last two New York City marathons.

But on an unseasonably warm day Monday, he drew ahead of Ecuador's Silvio Guerra, who was bidding to become the first South American winner in 28 years, and won the 103rd Boston Marathon in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 52 seconds.

Guerra was second and Frank Pooe, in his first marathon outside his home country of South Africa, was third.

In the women's race, Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia became the second runner to win three straight Boston Marathons. Uta Pippig of Germany did it from 1994 through 1996 before Roba emerged as the dominant woman in the 26.2-mile race from Hopkinton to the west into downtown Boston.

Roba, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist, had a substantial lead about two miles from the finish. A few miles earlier, two men waving green, yellow and red Ethiopian flags ran several yards behind her.

Franz Nietlispach of Switzerland won his third straight men's wheelchair race in an unofficial time of 1:21:36. The only faster time in the race's history was 1:21:23 in 1994 by Heinz Frei. It was Nietlispach's fourth Boston title, one fewer than Jim Knaub's record of five.

In the women's wheelchair race, Louise Sauvage of Australia won her third-straight Boston race and edged seven-time winner Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., for the second-straight year. Both were timed in 1:42:22. Sauvage won last year, although both were timed in 1:41:19.

Chebet won his first two marathons in Amsterdam in 1996 and Turin in 1997, then finished second in his last three. The 28-year-old Kenyan's personal best time is 2:07:37 in Boston last year when Tanui beat him by three seconds.

But Monday Tanui stopped running at about 22 miles.

As the race began at noon in Hopkinton, west of the finish line in dowtown Boston, the field of 12,797 official runners was exceeded only by the 38,708 entered in the Boston Marathon's centennial race in 1996. Last year's field of 11,499 is now the third biggest.

A total of $525,000 in prize money, not counting bonuses for record performances, included $80,000 each for the men's and women's winners.

By Howard Ulman