Desiree ‘Des’ Linden made history on Monday morning, in cold, windy, very wet conditions winning the 2018 Boston Marathon becoming the first USA woman to do so since 1985 when Lisa Larsen Weidenbach won the race.
From Runner’s World:
Linden, 34, tucked into a slow-moving pack navigating driving rains, a challenging headwind, and temperatures around 37 degrees, for the first half of the race, even aiding fellow American Shalane Flanagan to rejoin the group after Flanagan needed to take a bathroom stop right before the 20K water station.
At that point, Mamitu Daska of Ethiopia made a break for it and gapped the lead pack of women by 25 seconds. Linden and Gladys Chesir of Kenya slowly chased Daska down through the Newton hills, where Linden surged ahead after mile 20.
From there, Linden quickly created a 20-second lead over the final 5K. It was one of the slowest finishes in the last 40 or so years of Boston history, but it was also contested in some of the worst weather conditions.
Linden finished the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:39:54.
Teammate Sarah Sellers (USA) finished less than 5 minutes back in second place. Third place went to Canada’s Krista Duchene.
Top 5 Women Finishers – #BostonMarathon 2018
1. Desiree Linden – 2:39:54 (USA)
2. Sarah Sellers – 2:44:05 (USA)
3. Krista Duchene – 2:44:20 (CAN)
4. Rachel Hyland – 2:44:29 (USA)
5. Nicole Dimercurio – 2:45:52 (USA)
6. Shalane Flanagan – 2:46:31 (USA)
7. Kimi Reed – 2:46:47 (USA)
8. Edna Kiplagat – 2:47:14 (KEN)
9. Hiroko Yoshitomi – 2:48:29 (JAP)
10. Joanna Thompson – 2:48:31 (USA)
USA women dominated the top of the field taking seven of the top ten spots.
USA Women to win the Boston Marathon
- Bobbi Gibb (1966-1968) *unsanctioned
- Sara Mae Berman (1969-1971) *unsanctioned
- Nina Kuscsik (1972)
- Jacqueline Hansen (1973)
- Miki Gorman (1974, 1977)
- Kim Merritt (1976)
- Gayle Barron (1978)
- Joan Benoit (1979, 1983)
- Lisa Larsen Weidenbach (1985)
- Desiree Linden (2018)
Congrats to these women and all the tough and talented runners braving the conditions in Boston today.
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[images: Boston Marathon]