John Korir arrived in Hopkinton hoping to join his brother as a Boston Marathon champion. He left Boylston Street with plans to train a future winner.
Korir said he would donate the prize money from his Boston victory to the Transcend Talent Academy, which provides an education for aspiring runners who cannot afford one.
He has worked with the school in Kenya along with his brother, Wesley, who used the proceeds from his 2012 Boston win to build a hospital in their home region.
Photo: AFP
“It was in our dream to come here and win, and make history of two brothers winning Boston,” Korir said on Tuesday, a day after overcoming an early fall to become, with Wesley, the first members of the same family to win the world’s oldest annual marathon.
“One day, one time we’ll have a child from Transend Academy win Boston,” John Korir said. “That’s now our next dream: to mentor, to bring up a champion who will come one day, come and win Boston.”
The reigning Chicago Marathon champion, who had top 10 finishes in both of his previous Boston attempts, Korir broke away from the pack heading into Heartbreak Hill on Monday and ran alone for much of the final 10km to win in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 45 seconds — the second-fastest winning time in course history.
hoto: EPA-EFE
Fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi also took advantage of nearly perfect weather for a marathon to win the women’s race in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds — more than 2.5 minutes faster than the previous course record.
John Korir said that he, too, might have challenged for the course record if he had another runner to push him.
However, “because I was alone, had to try my best and see how fast I could run,” he said.
John Korir ran nearly the whole race with a scraped knee and hand after getting tripped in the crowded start on East Main Street in Hopkinton, sending him sprawling headfirst down the double yellow line in the middle of the road.
His race bib was messed up even worse.
He quickly popped back up and saw his bib was torn off his shirt in three of its four corners.
He detached the last one, folded the bib and tucked it into his shorts as he rejoined the still bunched-up leaders at the rear.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
RSS