Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 16, 1991 TAG: 9104160094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL JANOFSKY THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Long
The performance of the champions, in fact, provided some of the less dramatic elements of the 26-mile, 385-yard race. Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya continued a worldwide domination of marathons by East Africans as he crossed the finish line first in 2 hours 11 minutes 6 seconds, with four other East Africans finishing in the top 10. It was his second victory in this race, following a win in 1988.
Wanda Panfil, a Polish runner who lives in Mexico, won her fourth consecutive marathon, with a time of 2:24:18.
Far more intriguing was how the races developed. Hussein's time was just the 32nd fastest ever run in Boston while Panfil's was second only to the 2:22:43 Joan Benoit Samuelson ran eight years ago. Overall, it was the fastest women's race ever in Boston, with the first six women producing times that rank among the top 18 performances.
Both winners had the advantage of running unchallenged to the line. Unlike 1988, when he outsprinted Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania to win by one second, Hussein had the streets to himself for the last 5.2 miles.
Abebe Mekonnen of Ethiopia, the 1989 winner, finished 16 seconds behind him in 2:11:22, just ahead of Andy Ronan, 27, an Irishman who never had been considered among the major contenders. He was a surprise for third place, in 2:11:27, with Alejandro Cruz of Mexico next in 2:12:11.
Keelyn Wu of Roanoke finished 75th.
Panfil, who won marathons in Nagoya, Japan, London and New York last year, broke away from Samuelson and Ingrid Kristiansen after 15 miles to win easily. Samuelson and Kristiansen, each a two-time winner and each running a marathon for the first time since giving birth to a second child, were later passed by Kim Jones and Uta Pippig of Germany.
Jones, who was fifth last year, finished second (2:26:40) and was followed by three women within five seconds of each other: Pippig, who caught Samuelson with 300 meters to go (2:26:52), Samuelson (2:26:54) and Kamilla Gradus of Poland (2:26:55). For Kristiansen, the world record holder, it was the first marathon she had failed to win in six years.
Now for the weird stuff.
The day was perfect for fast times, maybe even records. Nearly 9,000 runners took off in temperatures of 52 degrees, clouds and insignificant wind - ideal conditions for a marathon. Yet only the women responded.
After one mile and a steep downhill with a drop of 130 feet, the leading men were running just under 5 minutes, more than 30 seconds off last year's pace.
Last year, the elite runners set a blistering pace for half the race, with Ikangaa leading them through in 1:02:01 before Gelindo Bordin of Italy won in 2:08:19, the second-fastest time ever run in Boston. This time at halfway, Hussein was leading at 1:05:24.
"I didn't want to do anything crazy like we did last year," said Hussein, who dropped out at 18 miles last year with cramps. "So I ran conservatively. I was ready to go faster, but the press" - he meant reporters, and he started to laugh - "will kill you if you go out fast and get beat at the end. I didn't want to get massacred."
Meanwhile, some of the heralded runners, including the two leading Africans in the race, were running themselves out of contention early. Chief among them were Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya, the 1987 world champion and winner of New York last year, and Ikangaa, Boston's runner-up the past three years.
Through the early stages, they were content to stay in the slow-moving pack that failed to respond when Hussein, Ronan, Cruz, Ed Eyestone and several others pushed forward after the halfway point. By the 17th mile and the start of a three-mile stretch of hills ending with Heartbreak Hill, only Hussein, Ronan and Cruz were left, although Mekonnen was closing from a distance.
"You think it was strange? It was stranger for me," said Ronan, a former graduate student at Providence College who had run only two marathons before. This was a happy man.
Ikangaa, who ran among the leaders through the first half, began limping and later dropped out. Race officials said he was taken to a local hospital, but they did not know the nature of his problem. Wakiihuri hung on to finish sixth in 2:13:30.
Wakiihuri's mere presence in the race was cause for some of the conservatism. In his first Boston appearance, he was considered by many runners as the favorite. So they watched for him to make a move, and he never did.
"Everybody was concentrating on me, not the race," he said, shrugging.
The fast times by the women came as the leaders fought hard against letting anyone get too far in front early. Usually, someone breaks and the others hope for a fold.
"It was the first time two, three and four women ran in a pack for any length of time," said Samuelson, who was ecstatic with her time and place. Her last marathon, a disappointing ninth place here in 1989, left her crying. "When women become more competitive with one another, we'll start to see times coming down again."
It wasn't the usual overwhelming disappointment for American men, who have not performed consistently well in marathons for more than seven years. Paul Zimmerman of Pittsburgh was the top finisher, 12th, in 2:15:32, and Eyestone was 15th in 2:15:58.
However, neither time was better than the standard needed to qualify for the world championships, 2:14, four months from now in Tokyo.
In the wheelchair division, Jean Driscoll of Champaign, Ill., lowered the world record she set last year by 35 seconds, finishing in 1:42:42. Her training partner, Ann Cody-Morris, was second in 1:46:24 and Connie Hansen of Denmark was third in 1:57:16. Jim Knaub of Long Beach, Calif., led from 10 miles and finished with an American record, 1:30:42.
Running in his 60th Boston marathon, Johnny Kelley, an 83-year-old former Olympian, finished in 5:42:54. As he crossed the line, he collided with his wife, Laura, who was waiting for him, and they fell. Neither was hurt, and he pronounced himself ready to run his 61st.
by CNB