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Health & Fitness

Meb Eyes History

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                                   Recent Boston Marathon Male Winners

Year

NAME OF RUNNER

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COUNTRY

TIME

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2003

Robert KipkoechCheruiyot

Kenya

2:10:11

2004

Timothy Cherigat

Kenya

2:10:37

2005

HailuNegussie

Ethiopia

2:11.44

2006

Robert KipkoechCheruiyot

Kenya

2:07:14

2007

Robert KipkoechCheruiyot

Kenya

2:14:13

2008

Robert KipkoechCheruiyot

Kenya

2:07:45

2009

DeribaMerga

Ethiopia

2:08:42

2010

Robert KipronoCheruiyot

Kenya

2:05:52

2011

Geoffrey Mutai

Kenya

2:03:02

2012

Wesley Korir

Kenya

2:12:40

 

Meb Eyes History

Thirty seven year old MebKeflezighi is set to run the 2013 edition of the Boston Marathon on Monday April 15th.  He hopes to be the first American to win the event since Greg Meyer did it thirty years ago in 1983.

            MebKeflezighi will have to compete against an extremely talented elite field headlined by three sub-2:05:00 runners from Ethiopia, GebreGebremariam, LelisaBenti and MarkosGeneti. MebKeflezighi has a career personal best of 2:09:08 that he ran in the 2012 Houston Marathon.

            Marathon distant running has been dominated by the two countries of Kenya and Ethiopia. A runner from either Kenya or Ethiopia has won the Boston Marathon for the last 11 years.

            Meb Keflezighi is an Eritrean born runner who escaped the war ravaged country as a child andeventually became a naturalized American citizen in 1998. In 2009 Meb Keflezighi won the New York City marathon becoming the first American to win this race since 1982 when Alberto Salazar did it. Keflezighi hopes that he can reciprocate the performance that he had in New York City in the Boston Marathon this year.

            The 2013 Boston Marathon has special sentimental value to Klefezighi due to the fact that he has never performed up to his own standards in this race. Also, Klefezighi is nearing the end of his competitive running career and understands that 2013 Boston may be his last shot.

            “It is probably my last chance, so I want to put all my eggs in that basket. I’ll give it everything I have, and if I could win it, that would be awesome.”

            The Boston Marathon is one of the six World Marathon Majors along with Tokoyo, Chicago, London, Berlin, and New York. The Boston Marathon is perhaps the most prestigious of the World Marathon Majors however, and it is the only marathon major that has qualification standards required for participation.

            Two years ago a world record performance of 2:03:02 was recorded at the Boston Marathon by Geoffrey Mutai. A 14 mph tailwind that assisted the runners throughout the course of the race deemed the performance by Geoffry Mutai unofficial by the IAAF (International Associations of Athletics Federations).

            Traditionally, the Boston Marathon has been a highly contested dog fight on the elite level. Klefezighi will have to run the race of his life against a stacked field in order to obtain his goal of making Boston Marathon history and ending his storied career on a positive note.

 

 

 

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