Fagan wins Boston Half Marathon

The Irish Olympian and national half marathon record holder won a duel with Kenya’s Philemon Terer, completing the 13.1 mile course around the streets of Boston and Brookline in Massachusetts in one hour two minutes 21 seconds.

Fagan, who lowered John Treacy’s Irish record to 1:00.57 earlier this year in Holland, joined the front-running Terer in the first mile and the pair quickly opened a gap on the field after opening miles of 4:43 and 4:41.

Terer got a jump on Fagan just after halfway as the course ran through Franklin Park Zoo but the Irishman rallied and caught his rival on a steep uphill incline around mile eight and he kicked on with 100 metres to go to seal victory by three seconds, with American Jeff Eggleston third in 1:04.16.

‘I put my head down, and just kind of lost myself running through the zoo,’ Fagan said.

‘Before I knew it, Terer has a three-second gap on me. I knew the course, and once I saw him fade on the uphill coming back, I knew I could pull him back.’

Fagan now heads to New York where he will compete on November 1.

Ethiopia’s Belainesh Gebre (1:11:07) won the women’s race in Boston from Jilliah Tingea of Kenya (1:11.43) with Karolina Jarzynska of Poland third (1:11.50).

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