Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia was the men’s winner in the Boston Marathon, Mon., April 20, for the second time in three years, and Caroline Rotich of Kenya outkicked Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia in a dramatic finish to win the women’s race by only four seconds!

The weather was a problem at Boston this year (chilly morning, wind blowing into the face of the runners), but Desisa, who’s 25, was just too strong and too good to be denied on this less-than-perfect day for running as he hit the finish line in 2:09:17, more than half a minute ahead of his countryman, Yemane Adhane Tsegay.

Desisa’s time was more than a minute faster than the 2:10:22 he ran in winning the 2013 Boston Marathon, which was marred by the bombings some two hours after Desisa had completed the race.

Caroline Rotich won the woman’s race in 2:24:55 on Monday as she exuberantly sliced down at the tape with a clenched right fist at the finish line after her all-out effort over the final 35 meters gave her a narrow victory over Dibaba. The four-second differential between the two made this one of the closest women’s finishes in history. Kenyans have now won the Boston women’s race six of the last seven years.

Lelisa Desisa, a hugely talented runner from faraway Ethiopia, has become all but an honorary citizen of Boston for his compassion and humanitarianism in the months following those horrendous bombings. Jere Longman of The New York Times wrote about Desisa before last year’s Boston Marathon: “Last June, Desisa returned his first-place gold medal – gold-plated with a diamond stud and framed – to the city of Boston in a public ceremony on the Boston Common.  Privately, he gave his racing bib to a woman who lost her lower leg and her husband who was also seriously injured.”

In returning his winner’s medal, which is now on permanent display in Boston, Desisa had said, “I want people to know I feel the pain.”

Now, of course, Desisa, who's also been quoted as saying, “Sports holds the power to unify and connect people all over the world,” has won another first-place gold medal in Boston, one he’ll surely keep this time. It probably won’t be his last at Boston, considering his ability.

Desisa was a track specialist before he switched to the roads and made his marathon debut in 2013 – that’s right, 2013, the year he won Boston the first time, was actually his first year running the marathon! And what a phenomenal first year it was…

After posting personal bests of 13:22.91 in the 5000 and 27:18.17 in the 10,000 on the track, and becoming an alternate in the 10,000 meters on the Ethiopian Olympic team for the 2012 London Olympics, although he did not compete in London, he entered the 2013 Dubai Marathon and won in a stunning time of 2:04:45, which was one of the fastest marathon debuts in history and surprised even him. He followed that up by winning at Boston, and finally at the 2013 World Track & Field Championships in Moscow, Russia, he won a silver medal in the marathon on a warm day, running 2:10:12 to finish only 13 seconds behind the winner, Stephen Kiprotich of Kenya. Not a bad first year for a marathon beginner!

Last year, of course, he gave former world marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang of Kenya a real battle in the New York City Marathon before Kipsang finally pulled away at the end.

Clearly, Lelisa Desisa is a force to be reckoned with in the marathon – as he proved once again in Boston on Monday. A huge pack of elite runners forced a very fast early pace, with Desisa one of the main instigators. The pace ultimately slowed, but when the race came down to the crucial final miles, the ones left in front were the two Ethiopians, Desisa and Tsegay, and the Kenyan Wilson Chebet. The latter gave way and now it was down to the Ethiopians. Tsegay actually pushed ahead at one point, but over the last few miles it was Desisa, who later said he knew at 35K he would win, running on his own and widening his lead.

At the finish he was well clear, his 2:09:17 giving him a margin of 31 seconds over Tsegay, who’s 30 and finished second in 2:09:48.

Chebet, who’s 29, finished third in 2:10:22, followed by three more Kenyans – Bernard Kipyego, 28, fourth in 2:10:47; Wesley Korir, 32, fifth in 2:10:49; and Frankline Chepkwony, 30, sixth in 2:10:52.

Dathan Ritzenhein, 32, of Rockford, Mich., running his first marathon in 18 months, was the first American to complete the race, finishing seventh in 2:11:20. He had run with the large lead pack early at that breakneck pace, fell back, then actually caught the leaders when they slowed down and even took the lead in Wellesley. However, he couldn’t keep up with the Ethiopians and Kenyans over the final miles. Still he called his performance in his first Boston Marathon ever a “Great step in the right direction” as he now gears up for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 10 months. If he makes the U.S. team, it will be the fourth time he’ll be competing in the Olympic Games!

Meb Keflezighi, the dramatic winner of last year’s Boston Marathon, a performance and achievement that captured the imagination of the nation, was not able to defend his Boston title this year. He ran hard, competed well, but his time of 2:12:42 was only good enough for ninth place. “Good enough” is a relative term, however, considering he’s now 39.

An interesting side note to this year’s men’s race in Boston: Lelisa Desisa not only won the race, he was easily the youngest runner in the top 10. He's only 25.

The women at Boston this year had to contend with the same conditions as the men, yet the women’s race produced even more drama and competitive fireworks.

A large group of runners stayed together through most of the race. Prominent among that group was Desiree Linden of Rochester Hills, Mich., who actually was the pacesetter a good part of the time. As the race entered the closing miles, however, she could not stay with Caroline Rotich and the two Ethiopians, Mare Dibaba and Buzunesh Deba (Linden would ultimately finish fourth, the first American). When Deba subsequently fell back, Rotich and Dibaba were left at the front to fight it out to the finish.

And fight it out they did! After they made the Boylston turn, with the finish line just ahead, Dibaba edged in front by a few feet, but the bigger, more powerful Rotich just had too much for her shorter Ethiopian rival – at least she did on this day. 

Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald later wrote: “Dibaba came across in 2:24:59 – just four seconds late – but it was much closer than that. It was two incredible women, two determined women, two women turning a marathon finish into the last frantic round of a Rocky fight, two women jockeying for position, trading leads, until Rotich made that last burst at the finish line.”

Adam Wells wrote in The Bleacher Report: “The old saying, ‘It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon’ got flipped on its head with the way Rotich and Dibaba closed out the Boston Marathon. Being able to do that after running approximately 26.1 miles is incredible….” No one would disagree.

For her part, Caroline Rotich said afterwards, summing up her motivation to somehow prevail at the end no matter what: “I have been waiting for this (the Boston Marathon) and training and training. I (felt) like, ‘Yeah, I want to do this (win the race) and I can’t let it go.’ " 

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