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Boston - Cheruiyot take 4 and Tune by 2

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Boston - Cheruiyot take 4 and Tune by 2

BOSTON, Massachusetts â€” Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot won his fourth Boston Marathon crown in overpowering fashion Monday while Ethiopian Dire Tune captured the closest duel in the race's history by just two seconds.

4 time winner at Boston, Robert Cheruiyot

Cheruiyot's third consecutive victory in the 112-year-old race came in two hours, seven minutes and 46 seconds - 32 seconds shy of the course record he set in 2006 but still the sixth-fastest finish in Boston Marathon history.

In perfect conditions, the 29-year-old Kenyan grew tired with a slow early pace and pulled away, steadily outdistancing rivals until he spent much of the race alone and on record pace until slowing in the final mile.

"When I decided to move I didn't look back," said Cheruiyot. "It's very difficult when I'm alone and Boston is not very good for (setting records). I wasn't worried. I didn't look behind. I just kept moving."

Morocco's Abderrahime Bouramdane was second in 2:09:04 with compatriot Khalid El Boumlili third in 2:10:35 and Ethiopia's Gashaw Asfaw fourth in 2:10:47.

Cheruiyot's four titles are eclipsed only by Clarence DeMar's seven victories from 1911 to 1930, a time when fewer racers from outside North America competed in the event.

Tune won in 2:25:25, edging Russia's Alevtina Biktimirova in a two-woman duel over the final few miles that turned into a side-by-side battle down the last 400 meters.

Tune, 22, pulled ahead around the final turn with 600 meters remaining but Biktimirova, 25, answered to regain the edge before the African pulled ahead for good with 400 meters remaining.

"When I came from my country, I had full confidence of winning this race," Tune said through a translator. "I brought everything that I am." Tune became the youngest Boston winner since Joan Benoit at 21 in 1979.

Biktimirova was second in 2:25:27 with Kenya's Rita Jeptoo third in 2:26:34, Latvia's Jelena Prokopcuka fourth in 2:28:12 and Ethiopian Askale Tafa Magarsa fifth in 2:29:48.

Jeptoo had won the previous tighest women's Boston Marathon finish by 10 seconds over Prokopcuka in 2006.

The men's and women's champions each received 150,000 dollars, twice the prize money for runner-up finishers, from a record purse of 796,000 dollars.

Former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong was in the field of 25,310, the second-largest number of runners in Boston Marathon history to the 38,000 entrants for the centennial edition of the world's oldest annual marathon.

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