Eliud Kipchoge was set to win the Boston Marathon for the first time, at his first attendance. Even he was the huge favorite, alongside many other great East-African mostly runners, the guy who is considered the greatest of all time in terms of Marathon running failed this time. Having the only unofficial still, but existing 1:59:40 for a full marathon, the Kenyan impressed with two Olympic Golden medals and the official World record standing, 2:01:09 at Berlin Marathon, the 2022 version. Even though at the top, Kipchoge dropped the pace starting kilometer 30 and the time difference increased as time passed. In the end, he finished sixth, while the winner comes also from Kenya, and it is the title holder, Evans Chebet, but with an improved time comparing 2022.
Tanzania very close to provide its very first winner – Gabriel Geay
Interesting is that, until the end, Geay was a great challenger for Chebet – not only him, but also Kipruto – but the fun fact was in these regards that Geay would have been, from my knowledge, the first ever Tanzanian to win a six major majors marathon and for sure the first to achieve a first place in the prestigious Boston Marathon. Of course, Tanzania is also in East-Africa and not only Kenya and Ethiopia provided outstanding runners there, but also Uganda and please remember two great marathon runners, that competed for UK and USA, indeed, but their origins where in Somalia (Mo Farah) and Eritrea (Meb Keflezighi) respectively. I highly recommend you a book where it is written about the Tanzanian runners, The Runner, by the Swedish athlete, Markus Torgeby.
The Boston Marathon 2023, 127th edition, finish list:
- Evans Chebet (Kenya) – 02:05:54
- Gabriel Geay (Tanzania) – 02:06:04
- Benson Kipruto (Kenya) – 02:06:06
- Albert Korir (Kenya) – 02:08:01
- Zouhair Talbi (Maroc) – 02:08:35
- Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) – 02:09:23
- Scott Fauble (USA) – 02:09:44
- Hassan Chahdi (France) – 02:09:46
- John Korir (Kenya) – 02:10:04
- Matthew McDonald (USA) – 02:10:17