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The runners will walk home with tens of millions each if any of them can claim victory and set a course record in Monday’s race.
Eliud Kipchoge and Edna Kiplagat are among the standout names set to grace the Boston Marathon on Monday and there is nearly Ksh27 million up for grabs for whoever wins and breaks the course record.
Boston is the most lucrative marathon in the world as it comes with record-breaking prize money for its winners.
![[PHOTOS] Inside Eliud Kipchoge museum in Boston celebrating the best of world marathon record holder](https://sportal365images.com/process/smp-images-production/ringier.africa/17042023/65e736db-886d-4875-9972-0415177e0393.jpg?operations=fit(:350))
09:40 - 17.04.2023
ATHLETICS [PHOTOS] Inside Eliud Kipchoge museum in Boston celebrating the best of world marathon record holder
The experience, dubbed Kaptagat to Boston, is showcasing how the Kenyan prepared and broke his own world record in Berlin
The oldest marathon in the world reserves $150,000 (Ksh20.2 million) for each winner in the men’s and women’s category with second-placed finishers going home with $75,000 (Ksh10.1 million) while third place attracts a prize money of $40,000 (Ksh5.3 million). The rewards extend up to 10th place where a consolation prize of $5,500 (Ksh740,850) is paid out.
By contrast, New York and Chicago marathons attracts a winner’s prize of $100,000 (Ksh13.4 million) each while London $55,000 (Ksh7.4 million) and Berlin, where so many world records have been set, only $40,000 (Ksh5.3 million) goes to the winners.
There is more. Although no marathon world records are possible in Boston due to the hilly course, a new course record will earn the runners an additional $50,000 (Ksh6.7 million) which would take the total purse to $200,000 (Ksh26.9 million), assuming the winner breaks Kenya’ Geoffrey Mutai’s 2:03:02 course record and Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba’s mark of 2:19:59.
In what will be the 127th edition of the race, Kipchoge, the world record holder, has already expressed his intentions to lower the course record even though it is his first time in Boston.
“I want to run course records in half of the major marathons. Currently, I hold the course records for London Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, and Berlin Marathon. For me it is just like a championship where one wins a gold medal,” Kipchoge told the Daily Nation last week.
Kipchoge will, however, come up against strong opposition in the form of defending champion Evans Chebt, Chicago Marathon and 2021 Boston winner Benson Kipruto, two-time Boston champion Lelisa Desisa and 2020 London Marathon champion Shura Kitata, who won as he (Kipchoge) finished fifth in the English capital.
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14:00 - 16.04.2023
ATHLETICS Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopia's Beriso top the bill for Monday's Boston Marathon
Defending champion Evans Chebet who is also an upcoming force to reckon with might pull off a surprise.
In the women’s race, 43-year-old Kiplagat is the oldest in an elite field that includes compatriots Peres Jepchirchir, runners-up just four seconds behind 2022 Boston winner Peres Jepchirchir, Mary Ngugi, who finished third in the last two races, Viola Cheptoo, who came close to winning in New York in 2021, as well as two-time world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri.
There are also Ethiopians Gotytom Gebreslase, who has recorded podium finishes in all her four career marathons, including wins in Berlin and the 2022 World Championships, and Hiwot Gebremaryam, who was fifth in Tokyo last year.
Kenya’s Robert ‘Mwafrika’ Cheruiyot (2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008) and Catherine Ndereba (2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005) are the most successful runners in Boston, having won four titles each.
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