April 21, 2008
Prokopčuka finishes 4th in Boston Marathon
Latvia’s Jeļena Prokopčuka, who took second in the past two runnings of the Boston Marathon, finished fourth in this year’s race, according to results reported by the Boston Athletic Association. Prokopčuka, a two-time winner of the New York City Marathon, finished the April 21 Boston contest in a time of 2 hours, 28 minutes and 12 seconds.
Dire Tune of Ethiopia won the women’s marathon with a time of 2:25:25. She was followed by Alevtina Biktimirova of Russia, 2:25:27, and Rita Jeptoo of Kenya, 2:26:34. It was against Jeptoo that Prokopčuka lost the 2006 Boston Marathon in what organizers describe as “the closest women’s finish in the history of the race.”
The 32-year-old Prokopčuka led the pack early in this year’s race, according to athletic association’s online commentary on the marathon, but by about 90 minutes into the competition had dropped well back behind the top three runners.
Robert K. Cheruiyot of Kenya won the men’s marathon with a time of 2:07:46.
The women’s wheelchair race was won by Wakako Tsuchida of Japan, finishing in a time of 1:48:32. Ernst F. Van Dyk of South Africa won the men’s wheelchair race with a time of 1:26:49.
Andris Straumanis is editor of Latvians Online.
The article may be found online at http://latviansonline.com/index.php/news/article/4052/
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