Boston Marathon 2012 Results: Scorching Weather Hampers Premiere Race

The 2012 Boston Marathon was exciting as usual, but it lacked the punch of recent years.

Who’s to blame?

The Beantown heat.

Temperatures rose to the high 80s during the day, and it caused a number of participants to drop out of the race completely. According to USA Today, the high of 89 degrees was one of the top-10 hottest days in the 116-year history of the race.

On the men's side, 29-year-old Wesley Korir of Kenya won the event, but his 2:12:40 time was the second-slowest mark to win the race since 1985. Afterward, Korir admitted to being extremely apprehensive with the weather conditions for the majority of the race, stating, "I was more concerned about my hydration than my positioning. I thought, let me go conservative. I was concerned about my health because it was really, really hot."

The heat cost 2011 champion Geoffrey Mutai, who had to drop out of the race due to cramps. A year after running the fastest marathon in the history of the Boston course (2:03:02), he couldn’t make it past the 19-mile marker before calling it quits. The rough outing will potentially derail his chances of an Olympics bid.

The biggest sign the heat was the main culprit for the slow times was the wheelchair race that began in the early morning. Before the heat really pounded down the Beantown streets, Canadian Joshua Cassidy zoomed to a course-record time of 1:18:25 to land the win.

But once the thermometer began to skyrocket, the runners suffered. American Jason Harmann, who placed fourth, called it “a survival race.” He also confirmed it was the hottest temperature in his eight marathon starts.

Officials estimated that 940 of the 22,551 dropped out before the race, and roughly 2,500 were treated by the Red Cross or one of the seven air-conditioned medical tents. Approximately 152 participants were treated in local hospitals.  

So, congratulations to Korir for gutting out the win. But it’s a shame fans weren’t treated to the best race possible. You can’t predict the weather, though, and that’s the beauty of marathon racing.

Here’s to hoping next year is just a bit more chilly. 

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