Redemption! That must have been among Sisay Lemma's thoughts (pictured above) as he crossed the famous finish line in splendid isolation on Boyston Street in the 128th Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day in the USA, Monday 15 April 2024.

The 33-year-old Ethiopian was the fastest in the field – and fourth-fastest in history – with his 2:01:48 course record victory in Valencia in December 2023 but he had failed to finish on his two previous appearances in Boston. This year the target was Geoffrey Mutai's 2011 Boston record of 2:03:02 and he clearly was on a mission as he passed halfway in 1:00:19 – the fastest-ever Boston split.

At 30K he was almost three minutes clear and the record looked to be his but the tough second half, including notorious Heartbreak Hill at 21 miles, slowed him to a finishing time of 2:06:07. There was an exciting climax as fast-finishing Mohamed Esa (Ethiopia, 2:06:58) closed to within 41 seconds. Defending champion Evans Chebet (Kenya, 2:07:22) was third.

In the elite women's race, Hellen Obiri (2:22:37) – pictured below with Lemma – displayed her superb racecraft and patience by defending her Boston title with a late charge in the final kilometre, leading Sharon Lokedi (2:22:45) and 44-year-old Edna Kiplagat (2:23:21) to a Kenyan clean sweep.

Boston is one of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors and the oldest marathon race in the world. It is also one of the few marathons that set qualifying times to enter and it is the challenging course steeped in history that makes this a bucket-list event for so many athletes.

The top three British men were Chris Phillips-Hart (Serpentine, 2:25:54), Chris Wood (Roam, 2:29:42) and M40 David Hudson (Huntingdonshire, 2:38:44). The leading Brits in the women's race were Belinda Houghton (Fylde Coast Runners, 2:51:05) and unattached runners Jessica Watson (2:55:01) and Lucy Brash (2:56:34) who were among the 120-plus Britons who beat three hours.

At least 1,500 UK runners were among the 30,000 competitors. Many travelled with Marathon Tours & Travel and you can sign up for their waitlist to be among the first to hear about the 2025 package here.

Results and previous Boston reports are available at runABC South race listing here.

Images courtesy Boston Marathon News and Media/B.A.A.