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- Despite flatting at approximately seven miles into the race, Mark Ledo of Canada successfully defended his men’s push rim wheelchair division title, edging Tony Noguiera of Glen Ridge, New Jersey by 18 seconds. Ledo, who also had a flat tire in last year’s race, opened up an early lead during the early miles and attempted to repair the tire, but was unable to complete the job when he bent the air valve with his inflation canister. He pushed the remaining six miles with a flat, winning with a time of 56:48 over Noguiera’s 57:06 and third place finisher Tim Kelly of Weymouth, Mass. (1:06:20). Both Noguiera (2003, 2004), who flatted at last year’s B.A.A. Half Marathon and who hold’s the B.A.A. Half Marathon course record (53:07, 2004), and Kelly (2001, 2002) are two-time race champions. It was the closest margin of victory between first and second place in divisional race history.
- April Coughlin of New York also defended her title in the women’s push rim wheelchair division. Her time of 1:15:17 was an improvement on her time from last year (1:22:50).
- The Boston Athletic Association, organizer of the B.A.A. Half Marathon, placed four women among the top eight finishers: Janelle Kraus, fourth; Kasie Enman, fifth; Carly Graytock, seventh; and Kimberly Nolan, eighth. The B.A.A. women’s team won its divisional team competition for the sixth consecutive year. Both Graytock and Enman have qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women’s Marathon, which will be held in Boston on April 20, 2008. The B.A.A.’s combined time (3:55:05) beat runner-up Merrimack Valley Striders (4:40:59) in the 19-team field.
- With its victory in the men’s team competition, the B.A.A. men matched their female counterparts in having won every open team competition (2001-2006). The five B.A.A. scorers were Jared Markowitz, Bernie Muller, Christopher Benestad, Wayne Levy, and Jonathan Fortescue in a combined time of 6:06:25, which was 43 minutes, 7 seconds better than runner-up Cambridge Running Club’s combined time of 6:49:32. Fourteen clubs fielded open division teams.
- Both B.A.A. Half Marathon inaugural champions Wayne Levy and Sarah Nixon were among the top finishers in the masters division. Levy, 41, was third place in 1:14:00; Nixon, 42 and a two-time champion (2001, 2002), was fourth place in 1:28:46. Levy and Nixon are two of 151 athletes who now have competed in all six B.A.A. Half Marathon races.
- Another runner who has completed every B.A.A. Half is Californian Hal Goforth, Jr. The 61-year-old resident of El Cajon is one of 35 runners who have run 25 or more Boston Marathons. Goforth ran 3:01:50 and was runner-up in the 60-and-older age division at the Boston Marathon this past April, his 29th consecutive Beantown 26.2-miler. He was also runner-up in the 60 to 69-year old division at this year’s half marathon (1:33:54). Neal Rosenthal, 60, of Pine Plains, New York was the division champion in 1:33:10.
- Peter Gilmore, Graytock, and Stephanie Hodge were among the top finishers at both of the B.A.A.’s two main events this year. Gilmore was fourth at the half and seventh (2:12:45) in the marathon; Graytock was 18th (2:43:19) at the Boston Marathon; and Hodge was the second-place masters division runner (1:25:55) this Columbus Day weekend and was the 34th overall woman (sixth master) on Patriots’ Day. Gilmore also represented the B.A.A. earlier this year at the Ohme Hochi 30-kilometer Road Race in Japan, placing fourth.
- Samuel Ndereba's time (1:03:03) is tied for the fourth-fastest ever run in the B.A.A. Half Marathon. Richard Kiplagat (1:03:15) and Michael Misoi (1:04:01) added the seventh and 10th-fastest times in race history. In the women's race, Marie Davenport's winning time of 1:12:10 was the fourth-best ever, while Josephine Deemay (1:13:17) is now #7 on that list.
- Third place finisher Firaya Sultanova-Zhdanova, of Russia, is the masters division course record holder at both the B.A.A. Half Marathon (1:15:19, 2005) and the Boston Marathon (2:27:58, 2002).
- With a record field of finishers (3,482) in 2006, the event has a combined total of 18,282 finishers in its six-year history. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund were the presenting sponsors of the half marathon for the fourth year in a row. Nearly 300 Dana-Farber Runners used the event as a fundraiser. The race also benefited the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, which provides oversight and upkeep of the Emerald Necklace park system in Boston and Brookline.
- There are 190 days until the 111th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17, 2007.
By Jack Fleming and Marc Chalufour with special thanks to Peter Brown, Jeff Staab, Bob Murdock, and Terry Shea for their contributions to the race day reporting and stories.
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