Strength on hills key to Cheruiyot victory

BOSTON – Robert Cheruiyot is well-versed in the Boston Marathon course, with four victories in five trips from Hopkinton to the Back Bay.

Abderrahime Bouramdane visited for the first time Monday, learning what thousands before him have come to understand as they reached Heartbreak Hill, 20 miles in.

“Up,” he said, “is the problem.”

Cheruiyot pulled away from Bouramdane as they entered the Newton Hills, reaching the crest of Heartbreak Hill with a 27-second lead and coasting to victory in the sixth-fastest time in Boston Marathon history.

Dire Tune outkicked Alevtina Biktimirova after a back-and-forth last mile to win by 2 seconds in the closest finish in the history of the women’s race.

Cheruiyot, of Kenya, and Tune, of Ethiopia, each earned a recently enhanced prize of $150,000 – the biggest in major marathon history.

Cheruiyot finished in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 46 seconds to become the fourth man to win the race four times.

“This was the hardest,” Cheruiyot said. “Boston is not a very easy course; it’s very difficult. (But) I enjoy running the hills.”

Although he repeatedly checked his watch as he ran alone for the last miles, Cheruiyot did not challenge the course record of 2:07:14 he set two years ago.

His problem: No one to race with.

“It’s very difficult when you’re running alone here in Boston,” he said. “You need company.”

Tune, who finished in 2:25:25, was the first Ethiopian woman to win since Fatuma Roba won three straight from 1997-99. She ran side-by-side with Biktimirova into Kenmore Square, and appeared to give up an edge when she nearly missed one of the final turns.

Tune quickly composed herself and took the lead before the last turn, but Biktimirova caught her and regained the lead briefly. Tune pulled ahead for good on Boylston Street in the last few city blocks and beat the Russian to the line.

“I was fighting until the end,” Biktimirova said. “And in the end I just didn’t have enough speed.”

The previous closest women’s finish came two years ago, when Rita Jeptoo beat Jelena Prokopcuka by 10 seconds. Jeptoo finished third this year, 69 seconds behind Tune.

Cheruiyot’s third straight victory gave Kenya its 15th men’s title in 17 years; Kenyans also finished sixth through ninth.

Bouramdane finished 1:18 back and fellow Moroccan Khalid El Boumlili came in third, another 1:31 back. Nicholas Arciniaga, of Rochester Hills, Mich., was 10th to give the Americans a top-10 finish for the fourth straight year.

Among those in the event’s second-largest field: cyclist Lance Armstrong and astronaut Sunita Williams, who ran a simulated Boston Marathon last year while in orbit on the International Space Station. Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, finished 496th in 2:50:58.