DPA/Boston


Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Caroline Rotich of Kenya won the men’s and women’s divisions respectively yesterday at the 119th Boston Marathon, two years after a deadly terrorist bombing at the event’s finish line. Desisa, who also won the tragic 2013 race, posted a time of 2:09:17. He was followed by Yemane Adhane Tsegay, also of Ethiopia.
“I am happy to win and for a strong Boston 2013,” Desisa said after crossing the finish line Monday.
He later returned his 2013 winning medal to the city of Boston in tribute to the three victims and hundreds who were injured in the blast.
Rotich won the women’s competition with a time of 2:24:55. She was followed by Mare Dibaba and Buzunesh Deba, both of Ethiopia. At total of 30,000 competitors took part in this year’s race.
It has been two years since Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan set off homemade pressure cooker bombs near the finish line, bringing death, injury and chaos to the east coast city. Tamerlan died in the manhunt, and Dzhokhar has been convicted of
murder.
The penalty phase of his trial starts today. Participants this year hoped for a brighter event after last year’s race, which marked the mournful one-year point since three people were killed near the finish line and a fourth - a police officer - during the manhunt.
“Last year was a year of remembrance,” Krasa Chambers, 41, a local resident and participant in this year’s race, was quoted as saying by The Boston Globe. “This is a world-class athletic event and it feels like that again,” she said.
The runners included 5,400 participants from 86 countries outside the US. The race also marks the end of one of the roughest winters in Boston history, with a record amount of snow - 275.8 centimetres for the season.
Patrick Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, noted his hopes on the race organizer’s website. “After a very difficult winter for Boston’s visitor economy we are all looking forward to this year’s Boston Marathon and the remarkable spending impacts this historic event brings to our community,” he was quoted as saying.