The 2015
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...
was the 119th running of the
Boston Athletic Association
The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the ...
's mass-participation marathon. It took place on Monday, April 20 (
Patriots' Day
Patriots' Day (Patriot's Day in Maine) is an annual event, formalized as a legal holiday or a special observance day in six states, commemorating the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy, some of the first battles of the American Revo ...
in Massachusetts). The men's race was won by
Lelisa Desisa
Lelisa Desisa Benti (born 14 January 1990) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. Desisa gained his first international medal at the 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships, where he took the 10,00 ...
from Ethiopia in a time of 2:09:17.
Caroline Rotich of Kenya won the women's race with a time 2:24:55.
Course, preparation, and field
![Boston Marathon route](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Boston_Marathon_route.png)
The event ran along the same winding course the Marathon has followed for many decades26miles 385yards (42.195 km) of roads and city streets, through eight Massachusetts cities and towns, to the finish line beside the
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
, on
Boylston Street
Boylston Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The street begins in Boston's Chinatown neighborhood, forms the southern border of the Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, runs through Back Bay, and e ...
in Boston's
Copley Square
Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to it ...
. The Marathon had about 30,000 entries. All 50 US states and all Canadian provinces were represented at the marathon, as well as several U.S territories, including
American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
, and the
U.S Virgin Islands.
Training for the 2015 marathon in the Greater Boston area was difficult because Boston received over of snow
during the previous winter. This resulted in many people trying to find ways to work around the weather, such as training on treadmills and indoor tracks, and by obtaining more equipment designed for the weather Boston received.
All but one of the four defending champions participated in the marathon.
Rita Jeptoo
Rita Jeptoo (born 15 February 1981) is a Kenyan marathon runner. Originally a winner of the Boston Marathon three times, including setting the then course record at 2:18:57 in 2014, she had also won marathons in Chicago, Stockholm, and Milan ...
, who set a course record in 2014, was the exception. She is serving a two-year ban for a positive drug test taken in September 2014, which did not void her record.
Race
On a cold and rainy day, turnout for the 2015 Boston Marathon was lighter than the one million spectators race officials had planned for.
Stiff winds slowed race times.
Security was described as "visible but not intrusive" as local and state police combined forces with
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
soldiers to keep things safe.
Men
The men's race got off to a moderately paced start with
Dathan Ritzenhein
Dathan James Ritzenhein (born December 30, 1982) is a retired American long-distance runner, and current head coach of On Athletics Club. He held the American record in the 5,000 metres (12:56.27) from 2009-2010, when it was broken by Bernard ...
and defending champion
Meb Keflezighi
Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi (; Ge'ez: መብራህቶም ክፍልእዝጊ, ''Mebrāhtōm Kifl'izgī''; born May 5, 1975) is a retired Eritrean-born American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and fin ...
of the United States heading a ten-man lead pack. A quarter of the way in,
Lelisa Desisa
Lelisa Desisa Benti (born 14 January 1990) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. Desisa gained his first international medal at the 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships, where he took the 10,00 ...
from Ethiopia decided to push the pace. As the pace quickened, the lead group fell from twelve to nine with four Kenyans, four Ethiopians, and Keflezighi leading the way. Ritzenhein had fallen 15 seconds back but picked up his pace, rejoining and then passing the lead group. At
Heartbreak Hill the field thinned.
Keflezighi briefly took the lead, but fell well off the pace when he choked on some water around the mark and vomited five times as a result.
With two miles to go, Desisa pulled away from the field.
Desisa, who had been among the lead group all race, finished with a time of 2:09:17, beating fellow countryman
Yemane Adhane Tsegay by 31 seconds. The 1–2 finish was the first for Ethiopia in the race's history. Kenya's
Wilson Chebet
Wilson Kwambai Chebet (born 12 July 1985, in Marakwet District) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. He has a marathon best of 2:05:27 hours.
He began competing internationally in 2005 and ...
finished in third place, 34 seconds behind Tsegay. Ritzenhein was the highest finishing American in seventh place, followed by Keflezighi in eighth.
Desisa had previously won the
2013 edition of the race. However, his win that day was overshadowed by the
Boston Marathon bombing
The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...
hours later. In the 2015 post race festivities, Boston Athletic Association spokesman Jack Fleming paid homage to Desisa's 2013 win saying "Lelisa did not get to have the kind of victory celebration that a champion of the Boston Marathon should have. Lelisa, we want you to get your due today."
Desisa's win by 31 seconds was the largest margin of victory since
Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot
Robert "Mwafrika" Kipkoech Cheruiyot (born 26 September 1978 in Kapsabet, Kenya), sometimes known as Omar Ahmed, is a Kenyan marathon runner and is the former record holder and four-time winner of the Boston Marathon.
Early career
Cheruiy ...
won by 1:18 in the
2008 Boston Marathon. It also made him the first non-Kenyan to win the race twice since England's
Geoff Smith won back-to-back races in 1984 and 1985.
The win came with a $150,000 prize, a golden olive wreath, and a winner's medal. "This medal, I think, is for me," he told the crowd.
(In 2013, he had donated his medal to the city of Boston in memory of the bombing victims.)
Women
![Boston 2015 lead women](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Boston_2015_lead_women.cropped.jpg)
In the women's race, a lead group of nine was thinned to three as Ethiopia's
Bizunesh Deba
Bizunesh Deba (born 8 September 1987), also known as ''Buzunesh Deba'', is a Bronx-based Ethiopian long-distance runner. Her personal best for the marathon is 2:19:59, set during the Boston Marathon in 2014.
A prolific runner since 2009, she i ...
picked up the pace with a 5:08 24th mile. For a while, Deba and fellow Ethiopian
Mare Dibaba
Mare Dibaba Hurrsa (born 20 October 1989) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She won the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. Dibaba is not related to track Olympic champion and world record holder Tirunesh Dibaba.
Biography
He ...
worked together to hold back
Caroline Rotich of Kenya.
However, Deba tightened up entering Boylston Street and fell off the pace.
Rotich and Dibaba raced the final quarter mile side by side.
Dibaba briefly took the lead, but Rotich out kicked her in the final 100 yards for a 4-second victory, finishing with a time of 2:24:55. Deba placed third, ten seconds behind Dibaba, following up her second-place finish in 2014.
Desiree Linden
Desiree "Des" Nicole Linden (née Davila; born July 26, 1983) is an American long-distance runner. She represented the United States in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon. In 2018, she won the Bosto ...
of the United States placed fourth, thirty seconds back of Deba, after leading for much of the race.
Rotich did not lead at a single checkpoint during the race.
Rotich's win was her first Boston Marathon title, and the fifth straight win for Kenya in the women's race.
Wheelchair
Earlier in the day,
Marcel Hug
Marcel Eric Hug (born 16 January 1986) is a Paralympian athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two ...
of Switzerland won his first title in the men's wheelchair race, beating South Africa's
Ernst Van Dyk
Ernst Francois van Dyk OIS (born 4 April 1973) is a South African wheelchair racer and handcyclist. He has won a record 10 wheelchair titles in the Boston Marathon. He was also awarded the Laureus World Sports Awards for ''Sportsperson with ...
who was looking for an eleventh Boston Marathon crown. America's
Tatyana McFadden
Tatyana McFadden (russian: Татьяна Макфадден; born April 21, 1989) is an American Paralympic athlete of Russian descent competing in the category T54. McFadden has won twenty Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Game ...
won the women's wheelchair race for the third straight year.
Results table
Official results from the Boston Athletic Association:
Wheelchair
References
External links
Official website*
Course
{{DEFAULTSORT:2015 Boston Marathon
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...