HOPKINTON-TO-BOSTON, April 20 — Sharon Lokedi backed up her course record romp in last year’s Boston Marathon, blasting away from the field at 35K to successfully defend her title in 2:18:51.
“I’m really happy,” the 32-year-old Kenyan exclaimed. “I got the win and the people of Boston brought me home with all the cheers.”
Lokedi led a Kenyan sweep of the top 4 places with Loice Chemnung crossing 2nd in 2:19:35, Mary Ngugi-Cooper 3rd in 2:20:07, and Mercy Chelangat 4th in 2:20:30.
Jess McClain led the U.S. women, finishing 5th in 2:20:49, followed by Annie Frisbie (8th in 2:22:00), Emily Sisson, (9th in 2:22:39) and Carrie Ellwood (10th in 2:22:53).
A year ago, Lokedi became the second woman to better 2:20 over Boston’s chain-of-hills route (after Buzunesh Deba in 2014) with her spectacular 2:17:22 clocking.
This year’s sub-2:19 repeat win was more tactical as Lokedi had some early race issues and was content to run in the lead group before exploding off the top of Heartbreak Hill at 21 miles.
Riding a generous tailwind, the race started comfortably with the lead group of 16 women often spanning the roadway as they cruised through a 71:02 opening half.
Turns out it was not so comfortable for Lokedi who admitted, “At the start I was very tired, it was like I don’t know if I have it today. When you start the race in those first kilometers your body is still getting used to it so you don’t really know until like 15km when your body starts to warm up.”
Good thing for Lokedi no one was in a real hurry as nine women remained together through the first three Newton Hills with McClain and Frisbie leading the climbs to pass 20 miles in 1:48:21.
It was that point at the base of Heartbreak Hill that Lokedi took over, attacking the 81ft (25m) ascent with a 5:22 mile that only the Kenya contingent could match.
The Flagstaff-based athlete said, “When we started going up those hills, I was just trying to figure out how my body can handle it. Every time I picked it up, I could feel like it was responding.”
Cresting the hill at 21 miles Lokedi took off and crushed the descent — ripping off 4:41, 4:48 and 4:36 miles and dashing 14:48 between the 35 and 40K mats.
“When we finished Heartbreak, I was like, OK, it’s time to go,” she said. “I was already in the groove, so I just went with it. I knew I was going fast, but you’re really not enjoying it. It’s painful, it hurts, but I’ve worked for this. I can handle this pain and I just wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible.”
Under the direction of coach and manager Stephen Haas, the ’18 NCAA 10,000 champ representing Kansas scored a breakout win in the ’22 NYC Marathon. With her three WMM wins, Lokedi has become an accomplished challenging course competitor. She also endured a 4th-place finish in Paris — just 4 seconds short of Hellen Obiri’s bronze medal time — and 2nd-place finishes in Boston ‘24 and New York ’25. In all three races she was bested by fellow Kenyan Obiri.
Undaunted, Lokedi says, “I feel like every time I go to a race I learn something about myself. Just the experience that you get from these races gives you so much confidence to want to be better.
“It’s just knowing that anything is possible if I just keep working hard, staying humble, and appreciating the things that I have and using them to get ready for the next time.
“Coming to these races and being able to run fast, I think it’s given me some confidence that if I go to a flat course I might run really fast. That’s the challenge ahead.”
Chemnung managed to keep Lokedi in sight and debuted with Boston’s fourth sub-2:20 effort. The 29-year-old Kenyan noted, “It is my first time here and I haven’t seen the course at all before the race today so I’m very happy to finish 2nd.”
Just missing the sub-2:20 club, the 37-year-old Ngugi-Cooper falls on the other end of the spectrum: “It is my seventh time in Boston and for me to be on the podium and run a great time it is special.”
McClain moved on quickly from the botched USATF Half-Marathon finish in March — so quickly that she’s now the fastest U.S. woman in Boston history.
“I had no idea how fast I was running,” she said after covering the course 1:13 faster than Shalane Flanagan (2:22:02) did in 2014. “My MO has been not to focus so much on time so I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the finish.”
Bedraggled by some oh-so-close efforts, the 34-year-old has found good racing karma in Boston, repeating as top American, moving up two spots from her 7th-place finish last year.
“I was just kind of game for it to go out any which way. I had done a ton of workouts where we incorporated pace changes. I thought I’d be more conservative the first half and then hopefully hang on for the second half. Today I felt super good for the second half and I felt like I could cover more of the moves this year.”
BOSTON MARATHON WOMEN’S RESULTS
(aided course: downhill, tailwind)
1. Sharon Lokedi (Ken) 2:18:51 (a-c WL)
(1:11:03/1:07:48);
2. Loice Chemnung (Ken) 2:19:35; 3. Mary Ngugi-Cooper (Ken) 2:20:07; 4. Mercy Chelangat (Ken) 2:20:30;
5. Jessica McClain (US) 2:20:49 (a-c: 2, 2 A) (1:11:02/1:09:57);
6. Irene Cheptai (Ken) 2:20:54; 7. Workenesh Edesa (Eth) 2:21:52; 8. Anne Frisbie (US) 2:22:00; 9. Emily Sisson (US) 2:22:39; 10. Carrie Ellwood (US) 2:22:53; 11. Bedatu Hirpa (Eth) 2:23:58; 12. Dakotah Popehn (US) 2:24:04; 13. Elena Hayday (US) 2:24:45; 14. Kodi Kleven (US) 2:24:48; 15. Amanda Vestri (US) 2:24:49; 16. Isobel Batt-Doyle (Aus) 2:25:06; 17. Paige Stoner (US) 2:26:34;
18. Madey Dickson (US) 2:28:12; 19. Susanna Sullivan (US) 2:28:35; 20. Megan O’Neil (US) 2:31:31; 21. Sara Hall (US) 2:31:55;… 25. Elizabeth Chikotas (US) 2:34:29;… 28. Alana Levy (US) 2:34:50; 29. Monica Hebner (US) 2:35:11;… 31. Desiree Linden (US) 2:36:24; 32. Katie Florio (US) 2:36:38; 33. Marybeth Chelanga (US) 2:36:45; 34. Olivia Taber (US) 2:36:57.
