Boston Marathon 2019: Elite Winner Photos by Raymond Britt

Boston Marathon 2019 elite runners and wheelchair athletes sprint to exciting victories on Boylston St. in these images.

With less than 200 yards to go, Lawrence Cherono (left) and previous 2-time Boston winner Lelisa Desisa dig deep, going for the win.

With under 15 yards to go, Cherono (right) begins to pull ahead of Desisa. Note: left side is a memorial to the victims of Boston Marathon 2013 Bombings.

Cherono increases the lead to take the win in 2:07:57; Desisa finished two seconds later in 2:07:59.

Worknesh Degefa stunned spectators and expert analysts by defying conventional wisdom, choosing to run out to an early lead of up to three minutes at one point, remaining far in front until the finish. Here, she displays perfect form, about 100 yards prior to victory.

And the richly deserved win was hers. Worknesh Degefa of Ethiopia breaks the tape to win her first Boston Marathon. 

Manuela Schar of Switzerland crushed the women's wheelchair field, winning by more than seven minutes, with a 1:34:19.

Defending champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland finished in third place, roughly five minutes behind the winner with a time of 1:26:42.

The Destination: The Spectacular Finish Line. This was taken later in the day when runners from the third and fourth waves were crossing the finish line. Note the dry conditions . . .

... dry conditions that didn't last for long. Seven minutes later, buckets of rain fell on the continuing flow of finishers, who probably didn't notice very much after a long hard run of 26.2 miles.

For more, return to www.RaceBoston.com or the site home page www.RunTri.com.

Rahm Emanuel Races Chicago Triathlon 2015: Results Analysis and Photos

By Raymond Britt

[See new photos from the Mayor's 2018 Chicago Triathlon here]

Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of the City of Chicago, tore through the 2015 Chicago Triathlon Sprint Distance race with fierce, unyielding intensity that's long characterized his political career.

The Mayor's third Chicago Triathlon in five years (2011, 2012, 2015), turned out to be his best.

This article presents analysis, comparing his three races: performance overall, and by swim, bike, run and finish results and rankings. In addition, see his intensity in my photographs of his 2015 race.

Click to see photos of the Mayor's Chicago Triathlon Journey; Images by Raymond Britt

Results

And he delivered exceptional results, ranking among the top 22 percent of athletes in his age group. even more impressive, he's improved with age; his adjusted 2015 results* (official time 1:39:59, but estimated at 1:31:09 if bike course was the traditional distance) convincingly exceeded his times his last two Chicago Triathlons, in 2011 (1:36:50) and 2012 (1:33:09).

(* the bike course was extended to an unusual distance 24.5k in 2015, compared to the standard distance in a Sprint Triathlon. We adjusted his bike time to a 20k equivalent for a fair with 2011 and 2012).

A main factor leading to the faster performance was a bike split of 18.68mph, a decided improvement over the 17+ mph pace he rode in 2011, and 2012.

But the real story in 2015 was consistency throughout the race. A naturally good swimmer, his swim time ranked him in the top 14% of his age group. In 2012, he seems to have used up too much energy on the swim (top 10 percentile rank), and may have suffered on the bike as a result (45% percentile). 

In 2015 energy conserved on the swim may have helped drive his top 23% bike rank). And he ran a brisk 10k in 28+ minutes, ranking him in the top 32nd percentile. 

USA Triathlon 2015 Olympic Distance National Championships Results. Stats and Analysis

By Raymond Britt

The 2015 USA Triathlon Olympic Distance National Championship, held in Milwaukee on August 8, 2015, featured 2601 of the nation's best triathletes in the country. The athletes, competing at the highest level of the sport, put on a terrific display of fierce determination in the quest for the best overall finish times and age group rankings.



The 2015 average finish time for all athletes was 2:34 = 28 minute swim, 1:11 bike, 0:50 run and 0:05 in T1+T2. The 2015 results were more than 3 minutes slower than 2013, which averaged 2:31, with slightly slower overall average times in each discipline.

But there's much more exclusive analysis here, We've taken the results of each athlete in each age group to compile this comprehensive results analysis that delivers average times overall, by age group, by split, by geography. Then we took the data to the next level, presenting side-by-side comparisons vs 2013 swim, bike, run and finish results by division.

In addition, we mapped results of athletes from 1,368 cities across the US, and developed a heat map that illustrates the geographic density of finishers.

Comparisons Between 2013 and 2015 Results by Age Group and Gender

For more, including similar analysis on dozens of other triathlons, see our site map at RunTri.com

USATriathlon 2015 Age Group National Championships: Photos

By Raymond Britt

The USA Triathlon 2015 Age Group National Championship featured exceptional triathletes competing with inspiring intensity in pursuit of unparalleled results. 

I was there, photographing the entire International Distance event, from 14 different locations on the course. A set of 100+ photo highlights are posted on my Photography Web site. Below are select photos from my day on the race course. See the complete highlights folio.