Boston Marathon | Deriba Merga, Salina Kosgei prevail

BOSTON — American Kara Goucher tore off the gloves she wore for the first 25 miles and threw them to the pavement.

The sprint was on.

Salina Kosgei of Kenya outkicked Goucher and defending champion Dire Tune of Ethiopia in the last mile of the Boston Marathon on Monday, going back and forth with Tune in the final blocks of Boylston Street to win the closest women's finish in event history.

Deriba Merga of Ethiopia won the men's race, with Ryan Hall picking up another third place for the Americans — their best showing in more than 20 years.

"I've never experienced anything like this, and I've been in the Rose Parade. So that's a pretty big deal," said Hall, 26, who finished 10th in the Olympics and threw out the first pitch at a Boston Red Sox game over the weekend.

"The bar's continuing to get raised, and I think it's time for Americans to step up and meet the challenge. It's just going to keep getting better and better and faster and faster. ... I know I have a lot to learn. But it's exciting."

Hall took the early lead with a blistering pace and was shoulder to shoulder with the leaders until they passed from Wellesley into Newton, with about 10 miles to go. Merga had pulled away by the bottom of Heartbreak Hill, winning in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 42 seconds — 50 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Daniel Rono of Kenya, with Hall another eight seconds back.

Merga led much of the Olympic marathon last summer before he wilted in the Beijing heat and was passed in the last quarter-mile, finishing fourth.

His victory Monday gave Ethiopia its second men's title in five years; Kenya had won in 16 of the past 18 years, and will have to be satisfied with a women's title — its seventh since the turn of the century.

"Boston is one of the biggest marathons in the world," Merga said. "Because of that, our people are very happy."

Kosgei's time was 2:32:16, a second faster than Tune and nine seconds faster than Goucher.

Devon Crosby-Helms of Seattle was 36th among women in 2:53:20 and Lia Slemons of Seattle was 66th among women in 2:59:36.

According to the race Web site, Ben Mangrum of Tacoma led Washington men by finishing 37th in 2:27:44.

The men seemed undaunted by a stiff headwind that helped slow the women to a methodical pace — 6:28 for the first mile. Though the elite women were given a half-hour head start, Merga began passing some of them as he left Wellesley and threatened to catch the leaders.

After finishing, he had to wait for his laurel wreath because Kosgei had not had a chance to climb the podium.

"I was a little bit embarrassed," said eighth-place finisher Colleen De Reuck, a 45-year-old four-time Olympian and naturalized U.S. citizen who grabbed the lead at several points out of frustration. "You come to a marathon — and a big marathon like this — you get paid a lot of money to come and run and I think you should race."

Goucher led the three top women as they crossed above the MassPike into Kenmore Square with a mile to go, but Kosgei and Tune began to pull away from her as they dueled. One year after Tune outkicked Alevtina Biktimirova to win by two seconds in what was then the closest women's finish of all time, the Ethiopian traded places with Kosgei several times on the last long stretch to the finish.

The only closer finish in the 113-year history of the event was the men's race in 2000, when Elijah Lagat beat Gezahegne Abera and the runners had identical times of 2:09:47.

Tune fell to the pavement after finishing and lay there for several minutes; she was hospitalized as a precaution. Robert Cheruiyot, a Kenyan going for an unprecedented fourth title in a row and fifth overall, dropped out because of back problems with about 10 miles to go.