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.

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Simeno Finishes Ironman New Zealand with a Sub 13-Hour PR Time



By Raymond Britt

United States Senator Kyrsten Simeno of Arizona finished the 2019 edition of Ironman New Zealand in a total time of 12 hours, 59 minutes and 57 seconds. This was her third Ironman finish, and the sub-13 finish time is a new personal best. 

The 35th anniversary Ironman New Zealand, held in Taupo NZ, consists of a 2.4 mile swim in Lake Taupo, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.6 mile run. Her splits and rank in the race after each discipline were:
  • Swim 1:28:14, she was in 1,075th place out of nearly 1500 entrants
  • Bike 6:50:42, she was able to pass 122 cyclists on the bike, ranked 953rd at end
  • Run 4:27:08, running a solid marathon, she passed 223 to finish the race ranked 730th overall
Simeno competed in the women's 40-44 age group, finishing 27th among these athletes. It was a solid performance -- the average finish time for women aged 40-44 is roughly than 13 hours and 30 minutes. 

(photo provided to media by Kyrsten Simena)

For more, see our previous Ironman New Zealand race coverage or return to RunTri.com home page.

The World's Top 25 Best Triathlons: Finding Your Perfect Race

Our analysis of the world's best triathlons has been covered by major media around the world, and our most recent feature is in the May 2012 issue of Triathlete Magazine: The World's Best Races. We've raced in more than 40 triathlons around the world, and know what great triathlons should be like. Beyond that, we've analyzed results for of than 150,000 triathletes in over 100 different triathlons.

Our featured analysis focused on the World's Best Ironman Triathlons, but in a unique way. The 'Best' triathlon really depends on what the triathlete's abilities and goals.
  1. First-Timers or PR Seekers: For those choosing a first race, or for those who want to set a PR, the best races are ones with faster times, lower DNFs.
  2. Crush the Competition/Qualify for Kona: But for others who have the fitness, ability and desire to crush the competition, and maybe even qualify for Kona, the best races are the toughest in every aspect.
  3. Top 50% to Top 25%: Finally, for the athletes somewhere in-between, the best races are the ones that play to their strengths -- better cyclists can take on races with tougher bike courses easier run courses; same principal could work in reverse for strong runners who need a bike course that is somewhat forgiving
Here are some general parameters to consider when matching your goals and abilities with your potential best races.

With those criteria in mind, we created the we took a completely new approach to ranking the Best Races: we compared and contrasted 30 different Ironman triathlons based on the relationship between their bike and run splits. Here's our analysis as published in Triathlete Magazine, to help pick your best race based on your fitness, abilities and goals.
  1. First-Timers or PR Seekers: Races with fast bike splits and fast marathon courses, Green races in lower left quadrant of the graph
  2. Crush the Competition/Qualify for Kona: It you've got the ability and fitness to outgun the field, choose the toughest race courses, upper right quadrant, labeled in red
  3. Top 50% to Top 25%: If you're a strong runner, but cycling's more of a challenge, choose a race with a faster bike course, upper left quadrant, orange labels; if cycling's your strength, a course with faster run splits may be best for you.

 A More Traditional View: Top 25 Best Triathlons

For great races that afford outstanding experiences, regardless of difficulty, these are our Top 25 Best Triathlons, in approximate Calendar Order. How do these races compare? We've done the analysis for most full and half ironman distance events on the list: Toughest/Easiest Ironman; Toughest/Easiest Half Ironman.




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