Clarksville’s T. McFadden adds fifth wheelchair crown
Overcoming icy rain, Linden first U.S. woman to claim title since 1985
Clarksville’s Tatyana McFadden, who has won more major marathons than any female wheelchair athlete, added another Boston Marathon title to her accomplishments Monday.
The win came just five days before her 29th birthday Saturday.
McFadden, an Atholton graduate, is coming off an injury-marred 2017 in which she was hospitalized early in the year with life-threatening blood clots and finished fourth in Boston. She later returned to win the Chicago Marathon in October and finish second in the New York City Marathon.
Her win today was the fifth Boston Marathon title and 22nd women’s major marathon of her career. Major marathons are Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City
McFadden’s official time of 2 hour, 4 minutes, 39 seconds was the women’s wheelchair race’s slowest in 30 years, but that can be attributed to the cold and rainy conditions. She won four straight Boston races from 2013 to 2016.
McFadden said she wore two jackets, with plastic bags between layers to stay dry, and hand warmers against her chest. The wet roads made it treacherous to turn and impossible to stop.
“I could start to feel my arms getting heavy just from all the rain soaking in,” she said. “You can’t put your brakes on right away, so you had to be tedious on the turns. I couldn’t even see because the wind was so strong.” American Linden captures women’s title: After slogging through just a few miles of icy rain and a near-gale headwind that made her feel like she was running in place, Desiree Linden decided she’d seen enough of the Boston Marathon for another year.
“My hands were freezing, and there are times where you were just stood up by the wind. It was comical how slow you were going, and how far you still had to go,” Linden said. Tatyana McFadden, an Atholton graduate, crosses the finish line for her 22nd major marathon title. The win came just five days before her 29th birthday.
“At six miles I was thinking, ‘No way, this is not my day,’ ” she said. “Then you break the tape and you’re like, ‘This is not what I expected today.’ ”
A two-time Olympian and the 2011 Boston Marathon runner-up, Linden decided to stick around, outlasting the weather and the rest of the field to win the race’s 122nd edition in 2:39.54. That was more than four minutes better than second-place finisher Sarah Sellers but the slowest time for a women’s winner in Boston since 1978.
Yuki Kawauchi splashed through the pelting rain, temperatures in the mid-30s and wind that gusted as high as 32 mph to win the men’s race, passing defending champion Geoffrey Kirui in Kenmore Square to earn Japan’s first Boston title since 1987 and the $150,000 first prize.
Wearing a white windbreaker that was drenched and billowing in the wind, Kirui slowed and stumbled across the Copley Square finish line in second, 2:25 back, followed by Shadrack Biwott and three other U.S. men. The winning time of 2:15.58 and was the slowest since Jack Fultz overcame temperatures in the high 90s to win the “Run for the Hoses” in 1976.
“For me, it’s the best conditions possible,” said Kawauchi, who competed in 12 marathons last year — six times the usual number for an elite runner — and also works as a school administrator.
On the fifth anniversary of the finish line explosions that killed three and wounded hundreds more, Linden became the first U.S. woman to win since Lisa Larsen Weidenbach in 1985 — before the race began offering prize money that lured the top international competitors to town.
Linden nearly ended the drought in 2011when she was outkicked down Boylston Street and finished second by 2 seconds. This time she made the turn off of Hereford with a lead of more than half of a mile.
“Probably 2011 is what put the fear in me,” Linden said. “That sprint battle is not super fun. It was nice to get it right down Boylston this time, that’s for sure.”
A 34-year-old California native who lives in Michigan, Linden said she was so broken by the weather that she wanted to drop out after a couple of miles but instead stuck around in case she could help one of her fellow Americans. Bethesda resident Beach continues streak: The current Cal Ripken of the Boston Marathon extended his streak of consecutive Boston Marathon finishes.
Ben Beach completed his 51st consecutive marathon, completing the 26.2-mile course in 5:48.35.
Beach is one of only nine runners who entered this year with a streak of at least 40 straight finishes in Boston. A total of 82 participants had competed in 25 consecutive races.
The 68-year-old Bethesda resident is still several races from catching John A. Kelley, who has started 61 Boston Marathons, completing a record 58. Kelley died in 2004.