Tanui Wins Boston Marathon

April 20, 1998 / 9:50 PM EDT / AP

With four miles left, Moses Tanui was so far behind the leaders he couldn't even see them.

With a relentless drive, Tanui kept surging, cutting into a quarter-mile deficit and finally catching the front-runners. Then, with a stunning kick over the final 200 meters, he gave Kenya an eighth straight Boston Marathon victory.

Regaining the title he won in Boston's centennial race in 1996, the 32-year-old Tanui rallied from as much as 48 seconds back with a powerful run, outkicking countryman Joseph Chebet.

"I was confident I could catch the leaders because they were running too fast," Tanui said. "I caught them and I still had energy."

The victory put the Kenyans within one of the record of nine straight victories by Americans from 1916-25, when there were no Africans in the race. The 1918 race did not count because there was competition only among teams.

Tanui's time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, 34 seconds, was the third-fastest in the race's 102-year history, behind 1994 1-2 finishers Cosmas Ndeti of Kenya (2:07:15) and Andres Espinosa of Mexico (2:07:19).

It also was the fastest of Tanui's career, bettering by more than one minute his clocking of 2:09:01 at the 1997 Chunchon Marathon in South Korea.

Chebet finished second at 2:07:37 and Gert Thys, trying to become the race's first South African champion, was third at 2:07:52, making it the closest three-man finish ever. Next was Andre Ramos of Brazil at 2:08:26 and John Kagwe of Kenya at 2:08:51, giving the Kenyans three of the top five.

Ethiopia's Fatuma Roba, the 1996 Olympic women's gold medalist, also produced her fastest time of her career, winning Boston for the second straight year in 2:23:21. Only Uta Pippig of Germany, with 2:21:45 in 1994, and Joan Benoit Samuelson, with 2:22:43, in 1983, ran faster.

The women's race was decided early, with Roba breaking away from Colleen de Reuck of South Africa going down the Newton Hills between 16 and 17 miles.

The tension was greater in the men's competition.

The wily Tanui laid off the fast early pace set by a group of 10 to 12 runners.

Then, after the runners came off the uphills of Heartbreak Hill and charged down the hills, the course flattened out, and Tanui began making up ground rapidly. By mile 23, he had caught Chebet and Thys at the front.

The three ran together for another mile before Thys began to falter, leaving the two Kenyans to battle it out. The time-tested Tanui and Chebet, the runner-up at the 1997 New York City Marathon, ran side by side until the final 200 meters.

Then, Tanui began his decisive sprint, and Chebet couldn't hang on.

"I thought maybe we could sprint together," Tanui said. "I sprinted. He could not, so I won the race."

Chebet was disappointed in his inability to keep up with Tanui.

"The only problem I had was that I had no kick in the last kilometer," he said. "I pushed it very much ... to the limit. But at the last, I had no ick.

"When Moses went in front of me, I knew he would win the race. I was not surprised because Moses has a very strong kick."

Two favorites, three-time champion Ndeti and last year's third-place finisher, Dionicio Ceron of Mexico, dropped out before 16 miles. Ndeti had stomach pain, while Ceron injured the inside of his right leg after stepping on a bottle at a water station.

It was about the 16th mile where the women's race broke open.

Once Roba broke away from de Reuck, she coasted home. Although the 27-year-old Roba showed no signs of the right leg injury that forced her to drop out of the 1997 World Championships and limited her to a fourth-place finish at this year's Tokyo Marathon, she said it slowed her down considerably.

"I had expected to make a record today, but unfortunately I had the pain, so my time wasn't what I expected," Roba said.

The women's world record of 2:20:47 was set by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe on Sunday at Rotterdam.

The runner-up in Boston was Renata Paradowska of Poland at 2:27:15 and Anuta Catuna of Romania finished third at 2:27:32. They were followed by 1995 world champion Manuela Machado of Portugal at 2:29:13 and de Reuck at 2:29:43.

Libbie Hickman of Fort Collins, Colo., considered the only elite American in either the men's or women's field, finished 12th in her marathon debut in 2:35:37. But she was beaten by Mary-Lynn Currier of Plymouth, Mass., 11th at 2:35:18.

The first American man was Joseph McVeigh of Summit, N.J., 17th at 2:16:48.

Each winner received $80,000 from the total purse of $520,000.

The men's and women's wheelchair winners were the same as last year - Franz Nietlispach of Switzerland in 1:21:52 and Louise Sauvage of Australia in 1:41:19. Nietlispach, the champion for third time in four years, won handily, but Sauvage had to rally gallantly from about 1,000 meters behind to beat seven-time champion Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., by about a length.