Geoffrey Mutai, the winner of the 2011 Boston Marathon, came very close to two hours in his finish time last year. He set a course-record, world-best time of 2:03:02.
Yet when asked about the possibility of an under-two-hour marathon, he sounded doubtful.
"No," he said during an interview at a media availability for the 116th Boston Marathon at the Fairmont Copley Plaza on Friday. "Maybe in the coming generation." Mutai, a 30-year-old from Eldoret, Kenya, finished three World Marathons with times under 2 hours, 10 minutes. As one might guess, he won two of them:Boston and New York, both last year (he set a course record in New York, too, with a 2:05:06) and Berlin in September 2010 (2:05:10, second place).
Mutai was one of 30 elite runners (16 men, 14 women) introduced by Marathon sponsor John Hancock Friday morning.
Another man who knows quite a bit about running in Boston, past champion Bill Rodgers (1975, 1978-80), was also on hand to offer his input about the possibility of an under-2-hour finish.
"I don't see it happening soon," Rodgers said, "and by 'soon,'I don't see it happening for a long time." Rodgers said that for "big races," the finish is around 2:05, "with extenuating circumstances here and there. Records continue to fall." In two of Rodgers'four wins, he finished in under 2:10, achieving the feat in 1975 (2:09:55) and 1979 (2:09:27).
However, he too sounded doubtful on whether a marathoner can finish in less than two hours, saying, "We're not near it. I don't know, maybe some great Ethiopian or Kenyan runner will prove (otherwise)." Time on their side? Speaking of fast finishes, there were three members of the women's elite field (defending champion Caroline Kilel, Sharon Cherop and 2006 champion Rita Jeptoo) who completed Boston in under 2 hours, 25 minutes.
Kilel, 31, of Bomet, Kenya, finished last year's race in 2:22:36, just two seconds ahead of Desiree Davila of the US.
"It was not really a problem," Kilel said. "We helped each other set the pace." As for Jeptoo, she took time off from running for several years (2008-2010) to go on maternity leave, and now is looking for a finish of 2:23, which would about equal her first-place time six years ago (2:23:38).
She identified both Kilel and Cherop as among her competition.
Women's time has arrived Both Rodgers and former multiple Marathon women's champion Joan Benoit Samuelson reflected on the strides women have made in the Marathon.
Women were not officially allowed to run the Marathon until Nina Kuscsik became the first official women's champion in 1972, 40 years ago.
"Our sport is an old sport," Rodgers said, citing the Olympic Games and foot-racing as examples. "It has a lot of baggage.
Those days are gone. Running is one of the equal-opportunity sports for women. I don't think it gets credit for that." Samuelson, who won in 1979 and 1983, noted that 1972 witnessed another achievement for women:the passage of Title IX legislation, of which she described herself as a beneficiary. Last year, Samuelson ran in the Veterans Division (ages 50-59) and set a course record in that division with a 2:51:29 finish.
She also mentioned the experience of running the Marathon with her daughter, Abby.
"She said she wanted to run Boston," Joan Benoit Samuelson said.
Milestone for Hoyt duo Another Marathon tandem, the father-son duo of Dick and Rick Hoyt, will celebrate a milestone of their own this year. It will be their 30th Marathon together.
Rick Hoyt, 50, has cerebral palsy, and Dick Hoyt, who will turn 72 in June, runs the Marathon while pushing his son in a wheelchair.
Dick Hoyt sounded hopeful about weather reports for a warm Marathon day.
"We like the heat," he said.
"I'd rather that than cold."
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