In relentless rain and punishing headwinds, Yuki Kawauchi, a frequent marathoner from Japan, finally scored a major marathon victory, winning the Boston Marathon in 2:15:54.

He took the lead with a mile to go from defending champion Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya, who had opened up a gap of more than a minute through the race’s famed Newton Hills, but slowed significantly as he entered Boston. Kirui held on to finish second, but he was barely moving as he crossed the finish line in 2:18:21.

“I think there is probably not a single person in Boston who thought I would win this today,” Kawauchi said through a translator following the race.

Kawauchi is a racing machine. He has completed 12 marathons in the last year, and he holds the record for most 26.2s under 2:20 (77). In probably worse conditions (-5 degrees was the reported temperature), he ran the Marshfield Road Runner’s New Year’s Day Marathon in 2:18:59. And he said after the race he is doing a half marathon on Sunday.

“I run a lot of races because I love to run races,” he said. “It’s one of the things I enjoy the most. Racing a lot gives me the opportunity to travel the world to see different places, get to meet different people, experience different things. And in a more practical sense, because I train by myself, if I did not run a lot of races, I would not be able to put in the same kind of quality.”

American Shadrack Biwott finished third in 2:18:35. He trains under Kevin and Keith Hanson, who also coach women’s champion Desiree Linden. It was the first time Biwott made the podium at a World Marathon Majors race.

“I had to keep reminding myself to just relax, keep my head up, don’t panic,” he said. “Part of the course, the winds were very strong. I was like, oh, man, better get up there. I don’t want to be in no man’s land. Because that would be struggle to be by myself.”

Finishing third, he said, made it a “perfect, perfect day for me.”

Kawauchi, 30, kept the pace honest early in the dreadful weather, shooting out at 2:07 pace from the start. Several times during the early miles he went to the front, bringing the pace down. He scored $150,000 for the win. The conditions made Kawauchi’s time the slowest winning time since 1976.

Tyler Pennel was the second American and fourth overall in 2:18:57.

Sarah Lorge Butler Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005.

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