In the midst of her seemingly superhuman domination of last year’s Boston Marathon, Rita Jeptoo famously outraced a Green Line trolley on her way to not only a third career win in the women’s classification but also a course record. Of course, as the world learned in December (and was confirmed in January), Jeptoo was likely performing at a “superhuman” level because she was using performance enhancing drugs.
As a result, Jeptoo is serving a two-year ban from the sport and will not be back to Boston in 2015 to defend her crown and vie for a three-peat. Still, even though she’s absent from the field, Jeptoo will nonetheless play a role in the outcome this April 20th.
Call it the Rita Jeptoo effect, and it actually could mean heightened drama as well as the possibility for the first American female winner in 30 years.
“The obvious thing is that last year’s winner is now serving a drug suspension,” Scott Douglas of Runner’s World explained to BostInno in a recent interview. “And in her absence, there’s no clear favorite.”
To Douglas, it actually goes beyond the simple fact that the defending champion isn’t running. The timing of her drug suspension also played a role. Here’s how he explained it:
The large marathons are in negotiations throughout the year for who their top people will be. And Boston always tries to honor its defending champions and have them back. I would very much guess that they fully expected to have Rita Jeptoo back this year, but then all of that news broke about her suspension. Obviously they’re not going to have her back, but all of these other big names are already signed up for London. That means that in her absence, the field is pretty wide open. There are a lot of women who are evenly matched, and Shalane Flanagan is one of them.
Speaking of Flanagan, 33, the highest profile American woman in Boston for this year’s race, her odds of winning have never been better. Given Flanagan’s familiarity with the course, as it’s her third attempt in the prime of her career, the strategy will probably be sound this time around.
In 2013, she ran a conservative race, trying to save her strength for the final few miles. Last year, she was aggressive early. Neither strategy worked. In 2015, Douglas is confident that a more balanced approach will prevail.
“So this year I think that she’ll be somewhere in between,” he noted. “I would be very surprised if she started out very fast, but I would also be surprised if her whole plan was based on waiting as long as possible. I think she’ll be more engaged in sort of racing the people around her.”
Predicting an American breakthrough in the women’s race this year is far from a guarantee, but thanks to Flanagan’s experience, as well as the Rita Jeptoo effect, the draught could finally end in 2015.
Featured image via Gr5 CC By SA 3.0
