Boston ‘survival race’
High temperatures forced marathon runners to rethink strategies,
Monday’s Boston Marathon was one of the top-10 hottest in the 116year running of the race, race spokesman Jack Fleming said.
Temperatures ranged from 81 degrees at 10 a.m. ET when the elite men and first wave started to a high of 89 degrees by 12:30 p.m.
Before the heat hit its apex, the balmy weather didn’t seem to affect Canada’s Joshua Cassidy, who set a course record in the men’s wheelchair race (1:18:25), but it had a striking effect on the men’s race.
Even the historically dominant Kenyan runners had to rethink their strategies, and they did so knowing that Olympic berths were at stake.
“I was more concerned about my hydration than my positioning,” Wesley Korir of Kenya said. His winning time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, 40 seconds was the second-slowest Boston victory since 1985. “I thought, let me go conservative,” he added. “I was concerned about my health because it was really, really hot.”
Last year’s winner didn’t fare so well. In 2011, Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai ran the fastest marathon in history on the Boston course (2:03:02), but he dropped out Monday after 18 miles with stomach cramps.
American Jason Hartmann placed fourth and called it “a survival race.”
Sharon Cherop of Kenya was the women’s winner in 2:31:50.
Although there were no fatalities, race organizers estimated that 2,500 people were treated by the Red Cross or in one of seven air-conditioned medical tents on course and at the finish. In addition, 152 runners were treated at hospitals.
Officials estimated that 940 in the starting field of 22,551 had dropped out.
Two days before the race, officials offered one-year deferments to the 26,656 qualified entrants.
One day before the marathon, organizers advised athletes in an e-mail to run “significantly more slowly” than planned and adopt the attitude that “THIS IS NOT A RACE. It is an experience.”
On race day, organizers provided extra water and extra safety personnel. They also kept the finish line open one hour longer (until 6 p.m.) to accommodate those who heeded the warnings by adding several minutes to their per-mile pace.
Had conditions been worse than the 61% humidity at the start, it might have been another story, Boston Marathon medical coordinator Chris Troyanos said. “The dryness made us feel like we could do this safely, but it was not easy,” he said. “It was a huge team effort. The pre-planning and expense was significant. In 2004, which was also hot, we weren’t as coordinated as we were this time.”