FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
112th Boston Marathon is One for the Ages
Race available on-demand at WCSN.com for the next 12 months
Boston, Mass. -- Twelve months after inclement weather threatened the 2007
Boston Marathon, Patriots' Day 2008 featured blue skies, mild temperatures,
and record-breaking performances. Robert Cheruiyot and Ernst Van Dyk
further established themselves as Boston legends, Dire Tune won possibly
the most thrilling Boylston Street sprint the race has ever seen, and
nearly 22,000 runners finished the second-largest Boston ever.
Fans can view the complete broadcast of the race free and on-demand at
WCSN.com for the next 12 months thanks, in part, to the support of Official
Race Sponsor adidas.
Among the many highlights of Monday's race:
The totals of 25,283 entrants, 22,375 starters, and 21,963 finishers each
rank as #2 all-time at Boston, trailing only the 100th running of the race
in 1996.
The total of 10,439 female entrants and 8,935 female finishers were both
new Boston records.
Robert Cheruiyot joined Clarence DeMar, Gerard Cote, and Bill Rodgers as
the only men to have won the Boston Marathon four times or more.
Cheruiyot's winning time of 2:07:46 is the sixth fastest ever run on the
course.
Dire Tune (22 years old) became the youngest champion, male or female,
since Joan Benoit (21 years old) in 1979.
Tune's 2-second margin of victory over Alevtina Biktimarova is the closest
finish in the history of Boston's women's division.
Ernst Van Dyk's seventh victory in the men's push rim wheelchair division
ties him with Clarence DeMar for most Boston Marathon titles for a man.
They trail only Jean Driscoll, who won eight women's push rim wheelchair
titles.
The total prize purse of $796,000, funded by principal sponsor John
Hancock, was a 38% increase from 2007. Both Cheruiyot and Tune received
$150,000 for their victories.
With his victory, Cheruiyot moves into second place, behind Martin Lel, in
the 2007-2008 World Marathon Majors Series, which concludes in New York on
November 2.
Cheruiyot also became Boston's all-time career earnings leader, having won
$469,000 in prize money and course record bonuses in Boston.
Neil Weygandt completed his 42nd consecutive Boston Marathon, the longest
active streak, and believed to be the longest in Boston history.
There were 1,363,982 unique visitors to the Boston Marathon race-day
website (www.bostonmarathon.org) on Patriots' Day. Collectively, they
viewed more than 10 million pages.
198,267 emails and text messages were issued through the AT&T Athlete Alert
Program, notifying registrants of the progress of their friends and family
along the course.
The 113th Boston Marathon is scheduled for Monday, April 20, 2009.
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