Why Mutai time, fastest in history, isn’t world record

With a brisk wind at his back and a determined countryman on his shoulder to push him down the stretch, Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai pulled away from Moses Mosop in the final quarter-mile Monday to win the 115th Boston Marathon.

His time, 2 hours 3 minutes 2 seconds, was the fastest marathon run by nearly a minute, and it smashed the course record, set last year, by nearly three minutes.

Mutai, running the hilly 26.2-mile course for the first time and in ideal conditions, beat the internationally recognised world record, 2:03:59, set in September 2008 in Berlin by Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, who benefited from having pacesetters. Boston does not allow pacesetters.

READ ON...