Ernst Van Dyck captured his tenth Boston Marathon on Monday, an astounding feat for the 41-year-old South African competing in the men’s push rim wheelchair division. With a time of 1:20:36, Van Dyk barely held off Kota Hokinoue and Masazumi Soejima, both hailing from Japan, who finished with a time of 1:21:14. Perhaps giving Van Dyk that extra edge, though, was the crowd of spectators lining the route who helped propel him for the exhausting 26.2-miles.

At a press conference that took place just as Meb Keflezighi crossed the Boylston Street finish line to become the first men’s American runner to win the Boston Marathon since 1983, Van Dyk outlined his training method and race strategy: He has a seven-minute hill back home, he explained, and would do two-hours or so worth of repeats, springing up the hill and coasting back down.

That came in handy while on the course trying to fend off Hokinoue and Soejima, from the second the gun sounded.

“I went hard from the beginning and it was almost like I was sprinting 100 meters, catching my breath, sprinting 100 meters, catching my breath,” noted Van Dyk.

But it was the spectators lining the route – chock full of Bostonians, Americans from all corners of the country and international supporters – that gave Van Dyk the emotional fuel he needed to push himself to capture his tenth Boston Marathon title. Taking second place in 2013 with a time of 1:27:12, Van Dyk knew that given last year’s tragedy, the racing world would since be changed for ever. Still, he personified the mantra ‘Boston Strong,’ and overcame the adversity we all faced in 2013 to finish as the top dog.

“It was hard. I mean last year, what happened here changed the world we live in. Coming to Boston I was kind of worried about how I would deal with it,” reflected Van Dyk. “On the course today, it was really, really unbelievable. The last 5 miles, it was like a human tunnel of emotions. As tired as I was, I just couldn’t let up. I was literally sprinting the last five miles and the people made me do that. They literally carried me.”

For Hokinoue, who came in third to Van Dyk’s second place finish last year and second place to his championship win this year, he knew almost from the beginning that Van Dyk was cruising at a level of his own.

“He was way ahead,” relayed Hokinoue through a translator. “The last two kilometers I knew I wasn’t going to catch Ernst.”

Photo credit: Steven Bognar, WBZ