Wesley Korir Wins Boston Marathon 2012

Trailing the leaders by 200 yards when the Boston Marathon slogged through Heartbreak Hill, Wesley Korir passed them one by one until he took the lead on his way out of Kenmore Square.

That’s when leg cramps forced him to slow down and relinquish the lead.

“It’s hot out there, in case you didn’t know,” he told reporters after enduring temperatures in the mid-80s to win the 116th Boston Marathon on Monday. “I knew it was going to be hot, and one important thing that I had to take care of today . . . was really hydrate as much as possible. I guess my biology degree kicked in a little bit.”

Singing religious songs as he trudged along the scorching pavement, the native Kenyan — a permanent resident of the United States — retook the lead from Levy Matebo in the final mile to cross the finish line in 84.8-degree temperatures with a time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, 40 seconds.

It was almost 10 minutes behind the world best established here a year ago by Geoffrey Mutai and the second-slowest Boston victory since 1985. Mutai, who was hoping a repeat victory would earn him a spot on the Kenyan Olympic team, dropped out after 18 miles with stomach cramps.

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Sharon Cherop won the women’s race to complete the Kenyan sweep, outkicking Jemima Jelagat Sumgong to win by 2 seconds in 2:31:50. {snip}

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Matebo finished 26 seconds behind Korir, and Bernard Kipyego was third as Kenyans swept the podium in both genders. Jason Hartmann, of Boulder, Colo., was in fourth place and the top American.

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Korir, a two-time winner of the Los Angeles Marathon, was the 19th Kenyan man to win Boston in the last 22 years. {snip}

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A total of 22,426 runners started the race in Hopkinton — about 84 percent of the registered field of 26,716 entrants. A total of 3,683 never collected their bib numbers over the weekend. Another 427 who picked up their starting bibs did not show up at the start; they will be offered a chance to run in 2013 instead.

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